


It’s Me Here, Riding a Light Through the Universe

by Allamarain



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: 1918 flu pandemic, AU-won't say of what, Action/Adventure, Angst, Bisexual Rose Tyler, Bisexual impostor syndrome, Characters Added As They Appear - Freeform, Christmas tree farms would be envious at the amount of pining, Different thirteen costume, Dubcon Kissing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s11e02 The Ghost Monument, F/F, Fake Marriage, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Romance, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Thirteenth Doctor/Corsair (?), Timey-Wimey, so much pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:21:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 26
Words: 80,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26450323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allamarain/pseuds/Allamarain
Summary: The year is 2009. Rose Tyler is a 23 year old librarian’s assistant. Nothing interesting has ever happened to her.Everything changes when one night, she meets the newly regenerated Doctor, a strange woman who’s fallen from the sky. Upon learning the Doctor is an alien, a time traveler, Rose comes along to travel in time and space. Along the way, she finds adventure, self-discovery, friendship…and maybe something more.Meanwhile, strange things are happening throughout the universe. Cracks in reality. Objects disappear, throwing worlds into chaos. Are they unrelated, or are they linked to a prophecy of untold destruction?This is a Series 11 AU-ish? There will be a few episodes revisited AND original adventures, with an underlying arc.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 66
Kudos: 195





	1. The Woman Who Fell to London (I)

**Author's Note:**

> Dear readers: Thank you for coming with me on this journey. 
> 
> The fic is set up like a season where the Doctor and Rose are having different adventures (”episodes”), but with an underlying arc. For the first episode I’m reusing imagery, ideas, and dialogue from both “Rose” and “The Woman Who Fell to Earth”, but I promise, there’s going to be more originality down the line. Episode names will be in the chapter titles. Each episode will be 2-3 chapters, and I think there will be about ten episodes. Along the way, we’ll see some familiar faces, and some new ones. And yes, it will be gay. Eventually. 
> 
> The fic title is from Peter Schilling’s “Major Tom (Coming Home)”, English translation of the original German lyrics.

There was a glowing light, filling the otherwise dark alley with yellow. Rose squinted, trying to make out what it was, but the light was too bright to discern any recognizable shapes. Whatever it was, it was just outside the other end of the alley. 

Something had fallen from the sky. She’d seen it walking on her way home from the library, snapping her out of her thoughts. She’d made the trip so often, the circuit from home to work and back, she could do it in her sleep, and sometimes, she almost did. She’d thought the bright spot against the dark sky was an airplane, or fireworks, even though Guy Fawkes night was months away. But the light had gotten brighter, descending towards the ground with alarming speed. She’d run towards the sound of the dull thud, several blocks away.

Now, sandwiched by weathered shops shuttered for the night, she hesitated only for a moment. to move closer. The thing on the other end could be dangerous, and she was alone on a deserted street. The smart thing to do would be to call 999. But something in her, a desire for the extraordinary, something meant for her alone, propelled her forward. She kept a hand on the wall as if for support, feeling the rough brick against her skin. 

The yellow light ebbed like mist as she approached. A woman, blonde and petite, in an oversized suit, lay on her back, eyes closed, unmoving. The glow of the light surrounded her entire being like a halo.

 _Oh my god, she’s dead_ , was Rose’s first thought, and she felt a pang, surprisingly strong for the death of someone she didn’t know. She must have died in the fall. Rose couldn’t explain where she’d fallen from, nor the strange glowing. She wondered if she was dangerous, toxic chemicals or radiation. She looked up, searching the sky for a source of falling women, but all she saw was the darkness of night. She crouched down to get a better look at the victim but careful not to touch. She looked peaceful, almost as if she was sleeping.

The woman’s eyes flew open.

In surprise, Rose tumbled backwards, landing on her bottom. She kept staring. _She can’t be, there’s no way she could have survived the fall._ The glow disappeared faded, leaving a lone streetlight as illumination.

The woman sat up in one motion. She peered back at Rose. “What?” 

Rose stammered, unsure of what to stay. “You’re-you’re alive.”

“Oh, brilliant!” Her smile slipped. “Probably.” She brushed the dust off her tattered suit as she stood up. “I’m very good at surviving falls. Survived much worse.” The suit dwarfed her, giving the effect of a child in dress-up clothing. 

“Where did you come from?” asked Rose. She tried to get her head around this. Was she a stuntwoman of some sort? 

“My spaceship. Up there.” She pointed to the sky. She wrinkled her nose. “It blew up, which is a slight problem. Maybe not so slight. Okay, a big problem, but first things first.” She rubbed her forefinger on the alley wall, then licked it. “London, and it’s 2009, give or take a few years, yeah?”

Rose shook her head. This woman was mad, with her talk of spaceships and licking grime. “Did you hit your head? Do you want to go to hospital?”

Her eyes widened with fright. “No, no, no, no hospital. I’m as fit as a…what do you call the wood with the strings on it, makes a rubbish sound?”

Rose crossed her arm. “A fiddle?”

The woman pointed at her “Exactly! Smart! Brain’s still all fizzing and bubbling. Anyway, I’ll be fine.” She was cheery, bubbly, despite her recent trauma. Although the thought was uncharitable, Rose wondered if she had escaped from an insane asylum. There was a woman at the estate like this, Lucinda, who ran through the courtyard talking about government conspiracies. Lucinda went off her meds whenever she wasn't supervised, saying she hated being controlled by them. Given this woman’s fright at the mention of hospitals, Rose assumed she felt the same way. But like Lucinda, the woman needed help, and she couldn’t leave her alone. She needed to call the police without alerting the woman to what she was doing. She didn’t want to leave her alone, either. If only she’d spent some time in the stacks on what to do in a mental health crisis. 

“So, tell me about your spaceship.” The best thing to do was keep her talking. As Rose spoke, she reached in her pocket for her phone. If she could flip it open, dial 999, she might have a chance.

“It’s a blue box, and everything there ever was in inside it!” Rose smiled politely as her grin spread wider. “All of time and space, anything that ever was or could be, the far-flung reaches of-” she broke off, her smile disappearing. She stared intently at Rose, or rather, to the side. “Can I get your name?”

“Rose.” 

“Rose, I need you to stand very, very still. Barely breathe.” Her whimsy turned serious, with such gravity, Rose felt compelled to obey. The woman moved closer to her, examining closely, nearly next to her right ear. “What are you? You don’t belong on this planet, do ya?” Rose was aware of nothing in the alley other than the two of them, and the mugginess of a June evening.

“What is it?” she asked. She turned her head to look, and felt white-hot sharpness in her neck, like a bee sting but worse. Crying out, she clapsed her hand over the source of the pain.

“I said hold still!” the woman pulled her hand off her neck. “Something’s bitten you, Rose, and I need to get it off!”

“No!” she backed away. The pain searing through her made it difficult to think, but she needed a doctor, not a nutter in an alley. Her other hand reached for her phone. “If you touch me, I’ll scream!”

“If it’s what I think it is, no medic on Earth will be able to help you. Now let me look!”

Before she could argue, the woman tore Rose’s hand off her neck, grabbed whatever was stuck to her, and pulled. Rose felt a wrenching pain, tears pricking her eyes. And in a moment, it was gone. The trickle of blood down her neck was less unnerving than what was in the woman’s hand-a huge bug, half the size of her first. She was amazed she hadn’t lost more blood. The bug’s body flashed white a few times, like a strobe light, before struggling out of the woman’s grasp and flying off.

“Blast it! Pesky little things.”

“What was that?!” Rose asked in alarm. It was like nothing she’d ever seen. Her hand went to her throbbing neck to staunch the blood flor. 

“The Tetrakind,” the woman said. “They live between dimensions, dormant until there’s an opening. When my spaceship blew up, it must have left a fracture in space-time. Never seen one of these on the hunt. This is amazing.” Her face fell. “No wait, did I say amazing? I meant bad.”

“Amazing?! How can you even say that?! It tried to feed on me!” Rose tried to control her anger as she kept her hand on her neck.

“No, not feed on you, exactly. The Tetrakind don’t need food, they go straight to absorbing energy. Very efficient. All through your body, there are nerve impulses, electricity passing through you, controlling your body, running through your brain.” Oh.” She stepped back, looking up. “Ohhh, that’s much worse.”

Rose looked up. She could see the black outline of four of the bugs hovering a meter below their heads. 

“That’s right. Tetrakind, called that because they hunt in packs of four,” the woman said. “The first one must have been a scout. It’s transmitted the electrical information to its pod and they’ve locked on to your nerve impulses. Stay very still.” She looked back at Rose, deadly serious. “They can drain every bit of electricity from you. And that’s not even the worst part.” 

“Explain to me why it isn’t?” Rose snapped. Her only movement was her eyes, looking at the circling Tetrakind above. She didn’t dare move. If she moved, she was dead.

“Because a fed Tetrakind is a breeding Tetrakind. Each one can give birth to four more. Four, then 16,64, 256,1024, 4096, 16,384…Earth will be up to over a million in a week, all feeding on humans. I need to-” She patted her coat pockets, then her trousers, face twisting in frustration. “Argh! I hate empty pockets!” 

“What do you need?” Rose was rigid with tension as she kept an eye on the Tetrakind. 

“Something with electricity. Are you the gadget type? Lost mine.”

She thought. “My phone!” She risked the movement to reach into her pocket and thrust the phone into the woman’s outstretched hand.

The woman flipped open the phone, pressing buttons at lightning fast speed. She alternated glances between Rose, the phone screen, and the Tetrakind. “Almost there…almost got it…” she muttered to herself.

“What are you doing?” Rose asked.

Reprogramming the phone to match your electrical signal. It’ll fool the Tetrakind into thinking it’s you,” The woman’s eyes darted around, settling on a metal rubbish bin. She ran towards it and threw the phone inside. Rose stepped backwards, fighting the urge to run away, as too quick of a movement might cause them to come for her again. The Tetrakind converged on the rubbish bin with a low buzz. Once they were inside, the woman flung the lid on, clamping it shut. Loud banging and buzzing could be heard inside as the Tetrakind, fooled, tried to escape.

“Oi! My phone!” Rose said. All her contacts were in there, and it wouldn’t be cheap to replace. Not to mention Mum would kill her for losing it, and how would she explain it had been destroyed by alien insects?

“Better your phone than your life,” the woman replied. “They can’t feed on it either. Only from living things. This will hold them for now, but I’m going to have to come up with something more sophisticated to take them out. Argh! If only I had my sonic, my ship, anything!”

Rose was way out of her depth, but she wanted to help. She still wasn’t entirely convinced the woman was sane, but she had just saved her life. And she wasn’t out of the woods yet. “What do you need?”

“Electronics. Computers, appliances, something I can use to draw them in.”

“My flat’s a few blocks from here. Would that help?”

“Yes!” The woman’s eyes went wide. “Show me the way!”

—  
Thank goodness Mum was on holiday with her girlfriends, Rose thought as she sat in her kitchen. 

The woman had a mess of electronic parts spread out over the kitchen table. After taking a brief but fruitful tour of the flat, she’d started gathering up what she needed. She’d found the toolbox, gathering dust at the back of the hall closet, and had taken apart an old laptop, a hairdryer, and the microwave. Rose had offered to help, but the woman waved her off. Now she was bent over the table, studying a circuit board, the tip of her tongue edging on the side of her mouth. If Rose didn’t know better (and she didn’t), she’d say the woman was enjoying herself. 

“This is a harmonic multiplier." she explained with unabashed joy. "It will generate a resonating frequency in each of the Tetrakind, to mimic the one that’s in you. They’ll sting each other. If it works.” She admitted.

“How do you know about these things? I mean, aliens and all that?” Rose had made tea for both of them, to give herself something to do, but instead, she fiddled with the cup. The woman hadn’t touched hers, hands too busy with the electronics in front of her. She liked watching the woman work and think. Every movement of her hands was like a carefully orchestrated ballet, twisting wires, running her fingers over circuit boards, plugging in chips. 

“It’s what I do,” the woman said, not looking up. "Travel the stars, in my ship. See what needs fixing. Been doing this for a long time, seen thousands of planets do whatever I can to help out.” 

Rose had scoffed at the mention of spaceships before, but she was starting to believe the stranger. “Are you an alien?”

“Yeah.” The woman was matter of fact, as if she’d been asked her favorite colour.

“If you’re an alien, why do you sound like you’re from the North?”

“Lots of planets have a North,” she said. “How about you? What do you do?”

“Nothing important,” she shrugged. “I work at the Havermill library. Children’s area.”

“Nothing important?!” the woman looked up and clapped her hands. “Libraries are the best invention humans ever had, and that includes the 99. And for children, libraries are essential. Opening their minds to the widest of possibilities.“

She’d heard versions of this before, from the head librarian and Mum’s friends. But the woman sitting across from her sounded like she actually meant it. 

The whole evening had a feeling of surreality. Rose touched the plaster on her neck, a physical reminder of what had happened. She’d washed it out while the woman was rummaging through the flat. The evening had been ordinary, closing up at the library, then taking the bus home. Then she was bitten by a bug from another dimension and was in her flat with-well, she didn’t know who.

“By the way, I never got your name,” she said. The woman held screwdrivers in both hands. assembling something with a lot of unrecognizable bits hanging off of it.

“It’s ummm..blast, I had it a moment ago!” she replied

“You don’t know your name?”

“Of course I do, I just can’t remember it right now.” She went back to the circuit board. “When I have it, you’ll be the first to know. New body, new brain, still firing up.”

“What do you mean, a new body?”

“Every cell in my body was dying, and my whole body changed. Some of it are still at it now, Reordering, regenerating. There’s echoes of who I was and sort of a call to who I am, and I had to hold my nerve and trust my instincts. I can re-create myself. A new man.”

“But you’re a woman.”

The woman stopped what she was doing and looked up in astonishment. “Am I? That’s incredible!” She looked at her coat sleeves. “Now I remember. A few hours ago, I was a white-haired Scotsman. Again, whole new body.” 

Rose went silent. As much as she hated to admit it, that would explain the clothes. Could she be an alien? There was nothing on Earth that would explain the glowing she’d seen earlier. And the way the woman worked, lightspeed thinking and reflexes, was far beyond the limits of human capacity. 

There was a slam against the door. A pause, and then another slam, harder and louder.

“That sounds like our friends!” the woman exclaimed. “Blast it, I’m nearly done, but I don’t have time to test it!” She frantically grabbed a pair of pliers, twisting bolts. The whole apparatus had wires hanging off of it in every direction. “Need an extension cord. Now.”

“Got a few.” Her hands trembled as she ran back to the hall closet. The banging was getting louder and more insistent. She ran back into the living room, a mass of extension cords in both hands. 

“How long’s the door going to hold?!” she exclaimed.

“Not much longer!” The woman sorted through the cords, pulling out the longest one, and plugged one end into her gadget. She thrust the other end into Rose’s hands. “Quick, plug this in!”

The thing still looked like a fire hazard, but Rose searched for the nearest outlet. Behind the telly. She heard a cracking, and a splintering, and the woman shouting at her to hurry. She pushed aside the TV stand and fumbled only for a moment before plugging it in. 

The woman threw open the door and pointed the gadget at the Tetrakind. She powered up, and Rose closed her eyes. If the gadget didn’t work, they’d descend on her in an instant. 

“It worked!” The woman exclaimed. Rose opened her eyes to her pointing to the four Tetrakind on the walkway, unmoving. “It’s lethal for them to use their stingers on each other. Natural selection to prevent cannibalism, even in the nether regions of the universe.” 

Relief flooded through Rose as she looked at the corpses. A football-sized dent, splintered and burnt, was etched into the door, but compared to alien bugs, that was merely an irritation.

“You did it!” she grinned at the woman, who’d now saved her life twice in a matter of hours. “I don’t even know what to say.” 

“All in a day’s work. A night’s work.” She suddenly swayed, putting out an arm on the railing to steady herself.

“Everything all right?” 

“Feeling a bit tired, from the fall and all the excitement. Think I’ll need a nap in a few minutes. Actually, make that…” she swooned before finishing the sentence. 

A blind panic seized Rose as she caught the woman before she hit the ground, pulling her back into the flat. She was surprisingly heavy for her size. Grunting and struggling, she hauled the woman on the couch laying her lengthwise. Staring down at her, she wondered what she should do next. Despite her year working at a hospital canteen, she knew nothing of medical care. She could see the slow, subtle rise and fall of her chest with each breath. she reached for the woman’s wrist and drew a sharp breath.

Two pulses. 

Rose dropped her arm as if it burned, where it fell limply to her side. As if in response, a puff of yellow light escaped her lips, lingering in the air before it faded into nothing. She was an alien. A real-life, honest to goodness alien. Her mind raced with the possibilities. She’d mentioned falling out of a spaceship that had blown up. Was she just passing by the Earth? Had she gotten lost? She sank into the upholstered chair next to the couch, eyebrows furrowed. 

She felt like she should be doing something more. But the only thing that came to mind was removing her boots. Mum would kill her if there were scuff marks all over the throw pillows. 

She stared at the sleeping alien. Her lips were slightly parted, as if she were ready to speak. Her dropped hand dangled, nearly touching the floor. She looked peaceful, nearly angelic. Rose looked up at the clock above the kitchen table. After two. She should sleep, as well.

In bed, despite her physical weariness, Rose couldn’t sleep. She kept reliving the night’s events. This was the most exciting thing that had happened to her, easily eclipsing the time she won a karaoke content. She could still taste the adrenaline on her tongue, the urgency coursing through her. It felt like she’d found something she didn’t realize she’d been missing. A part of her, long lost, returned to her. 

She’d never been one for stumbling into adventures. Her life consisted of home and work, with an occasional outing to a pub or shopping with friends. She thought of what the alien had said, about how children’s minds are open to new worlds, new ideas. It wasn’t just children’s. Her favorite part of the job was storytime for the children, reading them fantastic tales of the impossible. She loved looking up over the well-worn pages to see their awed expressions. Was something like that possible for her, too? 

Recreating herself. Just like the alien had said. The idea had a lot of appeal.

—  
“Rose!”

She jostled awake with a start, even as her eyelids were stuck together, refusing to open. At first, she didn’t recognize the voice that called her name, and then she remembered: the alien in her living room. She was awake. 

Staggering out of bed, she threw on a dressing gown before heading to the living room. The woman was sitting up, eyes wide with wonder. 

“Rose,” she repeated, “There you are! Feelin’ much better. Very comfy sofa.” 

Rose relaxed her shoulders, feeling oddly pleased. “Can I get you anything? Coffee, breakfast?”

She shook her head. “I need to be going soon. Stayed too long already.” She looked down at her sock-clad feet. “Where are my boots?”

“Are you sure?” She felt a pang of disappointment. She was hoping this alien would open the universe to her. But she kept looking towards the door and tapping her foot on the floor. “You’ve had a head injury. You could stay a little longer.”

“I’ll be fine. I need to find my ship.” The woman said. “Although, now that I think of it, if it’s not too much bother…would you be able to help?” The woman gave Rose a gentle smile that made something spark in her she couldn’t name.

“Yeah, yeah, I can help.” She nodded eagerly. She didn’t even know what she’d be doing, but she wanted to keep the woman around a little longer. “What do we need to do?“

Before the woman could respond, there was a click and a jingle of keys. Rose turned around to see her mother standing in the doorway, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Rose,” she asked. “Who’s this?”


	2. The Woman Who Fell to London (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor's remembered her name, just in time for Rose to explain her presence to her mum. Meanwhile, Rose reflects on a crucial event from her past.

The Woman Who Fell to London (II)

Rose tried not to panic. She hadn’t expected Mum back until later that night, and she didn’t know how she’d explain an overnight guest, much less an alien.

“Mum, welcome back.” She drew out the words, stalling for time. “What are you doing back so soon?”

“Linda gave me a lift, so I wouldn’t have to wait for the train. Supposed to rain up there all day anyway.” Jackie frowned. “I left you three voicemails this morning. Didn’t you listen to them?”

“She couldn’t have. Phone is destroyed beyond recognition.” The alien broke in with a big smile. “Hi, Rose’s mum! Nice to meet you.”

Jackie didn’t smile back. Instead. she gave the alien a dirty look. “Who’re you?”

“I’m the Doctor.” She straightened her shoulders, addressing Rose. “Finally remembered it. Good night’s sleep did wonders.”

“Your name is the Doctor?” Jackie raised an eyebrow. Rose wondered the same thing.

“Yep. Just the Doctor.” She nodded vigorously. “Had a little accident last night. Your daughter was a big help.”

“She’s a friend of mine,” Rose said. She needed to think of a non-extraterrestrial explanation quickly. “Needed a place to stay.”

“You’ve never mentioned her.” Jackie lowered her voice. “She ain’t one of those crazy homeless people that sleeps in the library, is she?”

“No!” her cheeks flared in embarrassment. She snuck a furtive glance at the Doctor, who was picking up one of Mum’s knickknacks, holding it close and muttering to herself, which wasn’t helping her make her case. “She got into a bit of trouble.”

Jackie’s glare softened, but only slightly. “Is that why she’s dressed like that?” 

“Um, yeah,” The gears of her mind spun to put in some back story. “Bit of a domestic, I think. Had to run in a flash. She doesn’t have anything, no money, no ID, no job.” Mum had a soft spot for victims of domestic violence. There was no shortage of them among her friends or their neighbors. It was an epidemic in hushed tones and pitying looks.

Sure enough, Mum’s demeanor shifted into sympathy. “Poor thing. She needs help. From places that can give it to her, though.”

Rose got the hint. No more strangers camping out on their sofa. “Sorry, Mum.” She tried her best to look conciliatory. “She was in a tight spot. It was just for one night. We were just about to head out.” 

Jackie leaned close, whispering. “Don’t give her any money. God knows what she’ll do with it.” 

“I won’t.” Rose tried not to roll her eyes. She had to remind herself Mum thinking the Doctor was a homeless drug addict was better than the truth. But her appearance was bound to draw other people to similar conclusions. And who knows what they’d have to do to find her ship. She had some old clothes she was going to take to the charity shop that could hold her over for now. 

“By the way, she’s not responsible for that big hole in the door, is she?” Jackie looked back at the front door. The indentation from the Tetrakind had been sizable, but at least they hadn’t penetrated through the full thickness.

“Ummm, no. It was like that when we came in. I’ll call maintenance straight away. Probably some kids playing in the walkway, even though they’re not s’posed to.”

Jackie looked unconvinced. “What were they playing with, blow torches?”

“Maybe it was termites,” The Doctor volunteered. She looked up from the tabloid she was flipping through. “Seen some hungry species of termites. Neptunian termites in particular are vicious little bugs. They can take out a forest in a matter of days.”

Rose silently swore. She needed to get the Doctor separated from Mum before she said more weird stuff. “Hey Doctor, what you’re wearing, it’s a little…ragged.” She wasn’t sure if the Doctor would take offense. “Would you like something else?”

“Yes! Need new clothes.” The Doctor looked down at her torn, oversized suit. “These are from my last body when I was a man.”

So much for avoiding weird conversation. Rose snuck a glance back at her mum, who shook her head, picked up her suitcase, and went to her room. “Come on, I’ll get you some.”

In Rose’s bedroom, she sat on the unmade bed as the Doctor picked through the paper sacks of clothes, throwing the unwanted items on the floor. She felt she should say something, but the Doctor wasn’t making the floor much worse.

“Oh, look at this!” The Doctor held up a white t-shirt with bright wide rainbow stripes across the front. “I love rainbows!” With her accent, she pronounced _love_ as _looov_.

“That’s a nice one,” Rose agreed. “Why don’t I help you pick something to go with it? I used to work in a clothing shop.” Grabbing another bag, she rummaged through it until she found a pair of black skinny jeans. The knees were a bit worn, but otherwise, they were still in good condition. “These should fit you.” 

The Doctor grabbed them out of her hands, holding them up. “Yeah. I like them.” Before Rose realized what was happening, she’d pulled down her trousers and was reaching for the buttons on her vest.

“What are you doing?!” She quickly turned away after catching a flash of skin.

A pause. “Right. Humans are prudish about nudity in this era. Forget that sometimes.” 

She tried not to let her anger show. “I’m not a prude. I just don’t know you, is all.”

The Doctor addressed her back. “It’s just bodies. Y’know, there’s whole planets where wearing clothes is considered offensive.” 

“Here it’s required. I’ll be outside.” After slamming the bedroom shut, she leaned against it, sinking to the floor. Inside, she heard the Doctor talking to herself, but she couldn’t catch the words. She played with a bit of fringe on her nightgown. _Well, I finally have a woman undressing in my bedroom_ , she thought bitterly.

She had known for a couple of years now, since a fateful birthday party for one of her mates, she wasn’t only attracted to men, but since then, she hadn’t done much more than look. Personal ads on dating sites had led to few answers and fewer actual meetings. Sometimes she’d felt like she wasn’t truly bisexual. Maybe it was just Larissa, or maybe she’d had too much to drink that night. Could you even call yourself bi without having properly dated a woman, without having slept with one? She thought of the slurs hurled towards girls like her. Fake. Attention-seeking. Slut. Maybe she should give up, stick to men. But she couldn’t stop thinking about what happened with Larissa, either. The memory of the soft, sweet lips against her own was as clear as if it had happened the day before. 

The door swung open, and Rose fell backwards. Above her, the Doctor was wearing the rainbow shirt, jeans, and Rose’s favorite leather jacket. “How does it look?” 

Scrambling to her feet, Rose took stock. The outfit looked better on the Doctor than it did on her. The jacket filled out her small frame, making her look bigger than she was. “It looks great. Though, I was planning on keeping the jacket.”

The Doctor looked crestfallen. “Oh, of course, sorry.”

“You can borrow it for a bit. If you want.” The words were out of her mouth before she realized it. Possibly a ploy to have the Doctor come back, visit her again? She wasn’t sure.

“Can I? Thank you.” She grinned, stroking the soft leather of the sleeves. “Really like this. I can give it back once I find my ship. The TARDIS can replicate any item of clothing. “

“The what?”

“TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. My ship. My home.” She suddenly looked despondent. “If I can find it again.”

“We’ll find it. I’m sure,” she said. She had no way of knowing it was true, but the Doctor looked reassured, at least. “What do we have to do?”

“Need to make a trip out to Bristol.” 

Bristol was at least two hours by train, but that was fine. She didn’t have to be back at the library until tomorrow morning. “I need to wash up and get dressed first. Oh, if I’m going out to Bristol, I need to replace my phone. Mum will have a fit if she can’t get in touch with me. Mind waiting?”

“Go ‘head.” The Doctor plunked down on the bed. Rose grabbed a pair of jeans and a blue top from a pile of clean laundry in a basket. She hadn’t gotten around to putting them away, even though they’d been sitting there for days. As she reached in her drawer for knickers, she heard Mum shriek, “Rose! Why is the computer in pieces?!”

She shot the Doctor a look. “Can you put it back together?”

“Yes! Probably. Maybe.” She looked uncertain. “I’ll see what I can do.” 

As the Doctor went to look at the dissembled laptop, Rose hurried to the bathroom. They needed to get out of here before Mum discovered what the Doctor had done to her hairdryer.

—  
Rose’s phone, as the Doctor said, was destroyed nearly beyond recognition, melted into a block of grey aluminium. A giant hole was on the side of the rubbish bin where the Tetrakind had burst out, burnt metal along the edges. Rose sighed. She’d been saving to upgrade to a smartphone in a few months, but she’d have to do it now. She could manage the larger credit card payments for a bit, as long as she didn't go out for a while. And they didn’t cut her hours at the library. Again. 

Rose waited at the counter of the Vodafone shop while the Doctor wandered around, flipping through the phone accessories. She’d given her details to the counter help and picked out the phone she wanted, but he’d been gone for at least ten minutes. She didn’t understand what was taking so long. Based on the tapping of her foot as she browsed, she guessed the Doctor feeling impatient too. As there was still no sign of the clerk’s return, Rose sidled over to her. “How goes it?”

“Not bad, just looking at the phones. Highly primitive. In a few years, they’re going to be so much more advanced. Virtual assistance, selfie cameras. Love selfie cameras.” She grinned.

“Keep your voice down.” Rose hushed her. “Do you want anyone else thinking you’re crazy?” She took a glance around. To her relief, they were the only ones in the store.

“They’d be right. Sort of. Oooh!” The Doctor put her fingers to her temples, wincing as she squeezed her eyes shut. 

“Are you all right?” Rose leaned over, putting her hand on the Doctor’s shoulder. 

“Got a bit of a headache just now.” She opened one suspicious eye. “You’re not emitting any high energy frequencies, are you?”

“Not a single one. Maybe there’s something in the store? Or an injury from the fall?” So far today, she’d been completely fine.

“Lots, but the regeneration energy should have covered that,” The Doctor’s eyes flicked open. “Might be something with this new body. A migraine. I’ve never had migraines before.” For a moment, she sounded upbeat, like a migraine was an adventure to be had. Then she grasped her temples again. “Can’t say I recommend it.” 

Rose zipped open her purse and started frantically digging through. “I’ve got an aspirin. It’s expired but only by two months. It’s probably all right.”

“No, no, no.” She held up a hand. “Aspirin would kill me. Think I’ll just wait a moment, see if it passes.” 

“Miss?” The man who’d been waiting on her returned from the back. “Sorry, miss.” He brushed his dark bangs out of his face. “We can’t port your number. Tried three times. Problem with the system.”

Rose let out an exasperated sigh. She was already spending more than she could afford on the phone. She didn’t need this. “Why not?”

He shrugged. “It happens sometimes.” He didn’t seem in any particular hurry to find out why.

“What am I s’posed to do, then? I need it now.” Not only had she not been able to retrieve her contacts, but she was also going to lose the number she’d had for seven years. 

The man looked bored. “We can give you a new number for now. Change it when the system’s back up.”

A new number, a temporary one, was better than no phone at all. “All right, then.” Without another word, the man disappeared to the back. She turned her attention back to the Doctor, whose arms were swinging at her sides in their usual relaxed posture.

“Feelin’ much better. Just a random thing.” There was an air of uncertainty about her that made Rose concerned, but she couldn’t put her finger on why.

“Maybe you’re hungry? We didn’t have breakfast.” Rose ventured. Her own stomach was starting to growl, despite rarely eating in the morning.

“Breakfast? Breakfast sounds good. A big stack of waffles. Love waffles. Or I did. They should sell waffles here, in this shop, right here.” she gestured to a rack of chargers. “Phones and waffles. It’s a good combination.” 

Rose shook her head. The clerk came back just then, and with little more than a grunt, he handed her the new phone and the new number on a slip of paper: (020) 2230 9653. She tucked the paper in her wallet, along with the receipt.

“I should make you pay for this,” she gave the Doctor a cheeky grin as they left the shop. “Got any money aboard your ship?”

The Doctor shook her head. “Never carry money. Which means you’ll have to pay for train fare. Off to Bristol then?”

Another expense she didn’t need. She reminded herself this was an extraordinary event, helping an alien get home.  
“We need to take the Underground to Paddington Station, and from there we take the train to Bristol. We can stop for food along the way. Have you ridden the Underground before?”

“Oh yes, many times. I saved passengers from being killed by a Silurian once, over a hundred years ago,” The Doctor said. ”She was livid about her kin being killed during construction, threatened to kill every human she saw. But she got better.” 

Conversations with Doctor got stranger and stranger, but Rose wasn’t the least bit bothered. She found it fascinating. As they started towards the nearest Underground station, she realized what the Doctor hadn’t mentioned was the plan to find her ship. “By the way, what’s in Bristol?”

“Oh right, never explained that,” the Doctor said. “I am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The outfit Thirteen is wearing is, of course, based on this one: https://twitter.com/WhoFanSite/status/1285155061925138433/photo/2
> 
> Let’s be honest. This whole fic is an excuse to put her in a leather jacket :)


	3. An Interlude in Bristol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In search of the TARDIS, the Doctor pays a visit to St. Luke's. Meanwhile, Rose wonders about her alien friend's past.

“I still don’t get it. For one, why are we going looking for your spaceship if it’s in Bristol? I thought it blew up.”

The train rocked in a gentle pattern as Rose sat across from the Doctor, the English countryside rushing past. The Doctor had explained the plan as they weaved through the crowds at Paddington Station. The station was unusually crowded for midday, and Rose thought she’d lose her temper if they had to move past one more middle-aged man in a suit lumbering by.

“I’m a traveler. Not just in space, but in time. The streams of past and future.” The Doctor waved her long, thin fingers around as she talked. “The past me was a professor at St Luke’s, and I kept my TARDIS in my office.”

Rose still didn’t understand. “How did you fit a spaceship in your office? Didn’t anyone notice?”

The Doctor looked annoyed at being interrupted. “It’s in disguise. Anyway, I have to sneak in there, grab a few things, and set the homing signal. The TARDIS will emit a silent, low energy electromagnetic signal, and will keep doing so until I turn it off. The present-day TARDIS, wherever it is, is still emitting that signal now, and I can use a few tricks to find it.” She paused, taking in Rose’s confused look. “Suppose it’s a bit…timey-wimey.” 

“Timey-wimey? Is that an official term?” Rose tried not to laugh. Given the Doctor’s technically advanced knowledge, she’d expected something more sophisticated.

“Oi! You try explaining quantum temporal causation in simple language!” She tried to sound cross but came off more amused. 

“But why can’t you ask your past self for help? Why do you have to sneak in?”

The Doctor’s blonde locks brushed across her cheeks as she shook her head. “No, no, no. Can’t meet my past self. It’s a fundamental law of the universe. Can’t cross my own timeline.”

“Why not?”

“Let me put it this way. Do you know how big Ireland is?”

“I guess?” She’d never given it much thought.

“If I were to meet my past self, there’d be such a massive temporal energy discharge there’d be a crater in the Earth about that size.”

“Oh,” was all she could manage to say. This trip had become dangerous all of a sudden. 

At Rose’s worried look, the Doctor assured her, “I won’t be around though, promise. Friday afternoon, I'm across campus at tea. Loved those little finger sandwiches."

Somehow that was only partial relief. “How did you become a professor, anyway? Did they know you were an alien?”

“No, I showed up one day and told them I’d been hired as the new lecturer. It was just after the War, the whole country was in tatters. Don’t think they paid much attention.”

“By the War you mean…”

“The big one. With the Nazis.” The Doctor leaned forward, daring her to challenge her assertion. 

“But that was sixty years ago,” Rose’s voice dropped, out of shock. The Doctor didn’t look much older than her thirties, though she’d mentioned a new body several times. “How old are you, then?”

“Thought you weren’t supposed to ask a lady her age.” The Doctor gave her a mocking grin. 

This was too much. Rose looked out the window. Blinding sun blasted through, the earlier rain forgotten, and the clicking of the train wheels over the tracks provided a steady rhythm. She’d read Alice in Wonderland to the children; now she knew what it felt like to fall down the rabbit hole.

And yet something within her moved, like strings pulled taut. She was witnessing something extraordinary, and she wanted to hold on to the moment. 

—  
“Come on, Rose! We’re almost there!” The Doctor’s boots echoed in the empty hallway as she led Rose into Bainbridge Hall. They’d walked two miles from Bristol Temple Meads, and the humidity had left Rose feeling like she’d been walking through a swamp. She could practically wring out her shirt. The Doctor, however, hadn’t even broken a sweat. Alien bodies were something else. 

Empty classrooms flanked them on either side. Idly, she peered into a classroom and tried to picture herself here, as one of the Doctor’s students. Or anyone’s. Uni, like most of her friends, had eluded her grasp. She’d never finished her A-levels, and had neither the will nor the means to complete them.

The Doctor stood under a green exit sign, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “It’s just up the stairs. Fifth floor.” 

Trying not to groan, Rose followed her up the narrow staircase, grasping on to the ornate wooden bannister for support. Her cheeks were flushed red by the time she got to the fifth floor. She vowed to join the gym after this. 

A metal door, dark grey marked by scuffs at the bottom, stood before them. The door creaked as the Doctor slowly opened it, looking to her left, then right. “We’re clear.” She stepped into the hall, motioning for Rose to follow. Around the corner, at the end of the hall, a glass door marked _John Smith, Professor_ , embossed in gold lettering on a frosted glass window pane. 

“That’s it.” The Doctor jerked her head towards the door. “Can I borrow your Oyster card? Lock’s not very good. I kept getting on maintenance to fix it.” 

“Sure.” She reached for her wallet, nodding towards the door. 

“Wait here. It’ll only be a couple of minutes.” Her expression suddenly darkened at something behind them. Rose whipped around to see a bald white man approaching. “Oh no.”

“What is it?”

“That’s Nardole! If he finds out who I am, then I’m really in trouble. Distract him!” The Doctor pushed Rose towards him as she scampered around the corner.

Before Rose could protest, she found herself face to face with Nardole. Almost literally face to face, as the Doctor’s shove had sent her tumbling forward. He was shorter than she expected up close, and he looked at her as if she were gum stuck on his shoe. 

“Can I help you, miss?” he asked, sounding bored.

“Hi,” she said, racking her brains to come up with an excuse. “I was wondering if you could help me.” 

“That’s what I asked you.” He looked at her over his clear-rimmed glasses. “What do you want?”

“Well, uh, I wanted to know about a class. Taught by the Doctor. I heard she’s-I mean, he, he is really good and I’d like to take his class.” The words faltered as she said them. She hoped the Doctor didn’t need long, because she wasn’t providing much of a distraction.

“He don’t teach summer term, miss.” He moved to step aside, but out of desperation, she reached for his shoulder. To her surprise, his scowl softened a bit. “But maybe there’s somethin’ I could help you with?” 

Oh. Nardole thought she was trying to chat him up. A memory from her shopgirl days flashed through her. Middle-aged men were suckers for a bit of flirting and flattery. “Well, how about for fall? I’m new here, and I’ll bet you know all the best courses to take.” She batted her eyelashes, fingering the white cotton of his shirt. I’d appreciate your help.” 

That earned her a bit of a smile. “The class schedule website is rubbish. “Don’t know why they can’t fix it. What’s your major?”

“Ummm….” Her mind went blank. She tried to remember what her friends majored in, the few that went to uni, but nothing was coming to mind.

“Undeclared?” Nardole asked. 

“Yes!” Rose said, a little too enthusiastically. “I mean, yes. Haven’t decided yet.”

“No worries. You want Physics 112, that’s for non-physics majors. But to be honest, his classes are always a bit of everything. I keep telling ‘im not to ramble on so much but he never listens to me. Very confusing, and I have to deal with the complaints. Though sometimes, when he’s busy, he asks me to fill in.” He winked. 

“Ooh, I’ll look forward to that,” she chuckled. 

“You’ll want to sign up soon. It fills up quickly. Have you been to the registration office yet?” 

“No. Had a hard time finding it.” 

“I can show you where it is. Want me to walk you over there?”

“Oh, no that won’t be necessary.” The campus was huge, and the Doctor would wonder where she’d gone. “Maybe you could give me directions?”

“Yeah. It’s a bit complicated.” He led her to the wall-length plate-glass window. “It’s in that red brick building, the Caldwell building. Back in the 60s, it was student dorms. The lads there were famous for their pranks. Stealing everyone’s pants and freezing them outside. Lining the sidewalk with marbles.” Nardole kept going as Rose tuned out, nodding every so often. He liked to hear himself talk, though it seemed like he didn’t get a captive audience very often. 

As she was about to thank him for his lengthy but thorough explanation, they heard a muffled noise from the Doctor’s office. Chords from an electric guitar, raw and distorted, rang through the air before coming to a sudden halt.

Nardole’s head whipped around. “What was that?!”

Rose could have sworn she’d heard something mechanical as his heard turned. Without another word, he started for the office door. 

“Wait!” she called out. “I have another question!” 

“What?” he snapped. He was annoyed, but at least he stopped. 

She needed to think of something. Nardole was growing more suspicious by the second. “What’s the Doctor like? I mean, as a teacher?”

“Why’re you askin’ so many questions about him?” He narrowed his eyes. “You ain’t from UNIT, are you?”

“What? What’s that?” 

“Don’t play dumb with me,” he growled. If anger was heat, he would have boiled water with a touch. “Think they can distract me with a pretty girl, eh? While they go through his office? You tell Kate he’s not working for them anymore. He’s got responsibilities here. Ones he’s been sworn to uphold.”

Sworn to uphold sounded more imposing than a teaching commitment. She tried not to let her confusion show as she wondered about what the Doctor was really doing here, and who she was.

Before Rose could reply further, the Doctor came around the corner. For a second, Rose saw the Doctor’s face twist in discomfort, then straighten out, like a flag unfurling. In silence, she put a finger to her lips, then ducked into a closet near the office door. Her shoulders slackened in relief.

Nardole was still fixed on her with laserlike concentration. Not saying anything, but waiting for her to make the wrong move.

“Y’know what? You’re right. Kate and I, we shouldn’t be bothering the Doctor.” She took a step back, giving him a reassuring smile. “I’ll just be going.” 

Nardole only glared back. “See that you do.”

As she turned away, Rose walked back towards the stairwell as casually as she could, hoping she hadn’t caused trouble. When she heard the office door slam shut, she turned around, waiting a few seconds before running to the closet.

—  
The Doctor exhaled a little sigh as she put the guitar back in the stand. She shouldn’t have even picked it up, much less played it, but she’d never been big on doing the sensible thing. Just one more strum, to see if it fit her, or if it belonged to her previous life. The way the instrument felt in her hands, with only an echo of memory, indicated it was the latter. 

She needed to finish up. She dashed by her old desk to grab one of her sonic screwdrivers from the cup. In the unlikely event he missed it, he’d blame one of the students for nicking it. She blew a kiss to the TARDIS before leaving. _Sit tight, old girl. I’m coming for you._

As she stepped out of the office, she caught the back of Nardole’s head. She couldn’t make out what he was telling Rose, but it reminded her of all the lectures she’d endured from him. Swinging her back to a lifetime ago, even though it had only been a few days since she’d left him on the colony ship. To die. If she’d listened to Nardole, she wouldn’t be in this mess. 

She was grateful for the janitor’s closet. Grateful for a moment alone to grieve.

 _Oh, Nardole. I’m so sorry. You survived, but you deserved better. Better than Cybermen. Better than me._

It was what she did. She took people and destroyed them. Bill, reduced to metal and circuits. Clara’s body hitting to the ground after the raven took her. Missy, dead by her own hand. She’d failed all of them. 

The doorknob rattled, and her hearts leapt for a moment that she’d been discovered. 

“Doctor?” It was Rose, to her relief. “What were you doing in there?”

“Just got a little nostalgic.” She studied Rose. Her dark eyebrows said irritation, but she could see the look of enchantment about her, looking to know more. Just the type she liked to travel with. Just the type she liked to ruin. She could already feel Rose being drawn into her world, and she needed to cut the strings. “Everything’s set. Now I have to build the transporter.”

“Where to next?” she asked.

“The basement! Follow me.” She grabbed Rose’s hand and led her downstairs. Build the transporter, find the TARDIS, give the young woman her jacket back. She wouldn’t allow herself to destroy anyone else. Best not to get attached. 

—  
The door to the small, stuffy room in the basement would only crack open wide enough to let them pass. Inside looked like a robot threw up. Or rather, like a hundred robots threw up. Machine parts and wires and tubes were everywhere. Rose tried to move among the stacks of boxes piled everywhere, some as high as her head, afraid of knocking something over. The piles of junk everywhere nearly made her claustrophobic. The Doctor flitted around, grabbing pieces and pawing through piles of parts.

Rose kept an eye on the door, afraid they were going to get in trouble for trespassing. “What is this place?”

“It’s my lab!” The Doctor looked up from twisting two wires together. “Had one the whole time I was here. I took grad students now and then, but mostly they got in the way. Can you find me some clamps?”

Rose searched the benches, not sure of what she was looking for. She found a grey metal C-shape on a pile of large bolts. “Something like this?” She held them up.

“Yes!” The Doctor snatched them from her hands. “How about some electrical tape?”

The Doctor gave her more orders, and Rose went around the lab searching for the parts she needed. She liked watching the Doctor work, just as she had in her flat the night before. 

“So what happens when you find your ship?” She’d cleared off a rickety stool, more rust than metal, and sat down to watch the Doctor work. “Do you go to your home planet?” 

The Doctor shook her head. “Haven’t been there in a long time. Mostly just putter about.”

“What kind of life is that?”

“The best kind there is,” she looked up, her eyes shining as her hands were buried in wires. “Seen all sorts of things. Nebulas, stars at their birth. Peoples from the dawn of civilization until their extinction. Massive supernovas.” She stretched her arms wide to indicate the size. “What about you? Where would you like to be?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. Sometimes her friends asked her if she was going to become a proper librarian. She wasn’t sure she wanted to spend the next four decades of her life buried in books. All the story times in the world weren’t worth it. Not that she expected the librarians to be supportive of her. She’d watched as they’d encouraged fresh-faced interns and gave her gruff orders to reshelve books. She knew the score. She was brought up on a council estate by a single mum. Nobody expected anything of her, why should she expect it of herself?

“You’ll figure it out.” The Doctor assured her. “You’re clever.”

“I don’t know about that. Didn’t do so well in school.” Rose looked down, pushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. She felt odd about the compliment, but it sparked a bit of hope in her. That the Doctor had seen something special in her. 

“Lots of things a test can’t measure.” With that, the Doctor went back to her wiring. Rose rocked on the stool, hoping it wouldn’t give way. For a moment, she wished the Doctor would take her along. Show her nebulas and planets and stars she’d spoken of. _Give me a chance. Just one_. But a lump in her throat formed rather than words. Instead, she contented herself to watch, as the Doctor put the pieces of her ticket home together. 

At last, it was done. “Hold this” The Doctor put an earth-brown metal box in her hands. It weighed heavier than it looked. 

“Like this?” Rose held it up to chest level.

“Higher. Like up to here.” Putting her hands over Rose’s, she pulled up, until the box was at eye level. Rose felt the strain in her biceps. She needed to get to the gym.

The Doctor took a few steps back, looking at a computer readout. “Just a few seconds, and we should have the coordinates.” Looking back to Rose, she said, “Just a minute longer.”

“Good luck.” Despite the tremble in her arms from holding the box, she felt a letdown. In a few moments, the Doctor would be gone. She’d take the train back to London, and other than the pieces of Mum’s hairdryer, it would be like the Doctor had never crash-landed in that alley. But the alien had made an indelible mark on her psyche, and she knew she’d never forget.

“It’s now!” The Doctor exclaimed. She pointed the sonic screwdriver at the box and fired.

The next moment was pure blackness. Blackness and cold as if plunged into ice water. Her lungs were screaming. Her fingertips burned.

The only thing she could see was the Doctor, blonde mane flowing around her, staring at her in incredulity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t remember if they ever showed the exterior of Twelve’s office. To be honest, series10 is a blur for me. Apologies if I got something wrong. The important part is we have an explanation for how Twelve got a faculty position despite a complete lack of publications :)
> 
> Is Nardole easily swayed by flirting? I’m just going to point out he ended up with six wives.


	4. The Ghost Monument (I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The Ghost Monument", highly condensed, with a focus on Rose's reactions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I promise these will not all be retellings of episodes, but there are Reasons for Thirteen and Rose being here. Sit tight. I'm going to try to put up Part II in the next 2-3 days. The next adventure will be original.

_I’m in space_.

Rose had read a book one about Pluto she’d read at Story Time, the name was escaping her, along with her oxygen, but she never had as much appreciation for it as she did now. The blackness stretched out infinite before her. Too big to describe in words. 

Seconds ticked by at a snail’s pace. She couldn’t survive out here. Not for long. ‘

She wondered if she was near Pluto.

She wished she’d texted Mum with more than her new number. 

Her head felt fuzzy. Her brain was going as numb as her body. It would be all over soon. The idea was more of a comfort than a fright. She tried to cling to a memory, of her flat smelling of homey dinners and Larissa’s lips and schoolrooms filled with the smell of chalk and the heaviness of her eyelids…

And then there warmth and air and deep blue. Her lungs inhaled forcefully. She felt a surface underneath her, soft foam against her heard

She sat up, and nearly vomited as the room spun. She closed her eyes and held her head, ignoring the faint vibrations under her legs. Carefully, she peeked an eye open. What happened? She’d been at St Luke’s, then space, now she was surrounded like a mass of metal, pipes, and tubing. She was in a room of some sort, like the Doctor’s lab, only the machinery had multiplied, taking on a life of its own.

She needed to get out of here. Get out of here and find her way back to Bristol Temple Meades, back home. She remembered she’d seen the Doctor next to her when she’d been in space. Where was she?

She swung her legs over the side, holding on to the edge of the platform to steady herself. 

“Oh, you’re up!” A woman’s voice, from the other side of the room. She sounded surprised, yet pleased.

“Hello?” Rose asked.

She heard a jump, and the owner of the voice approached her. Golden blonde hair, with dark roots, and a thin, narrow nose. She looked ragged, like a survivor of the post-apocalypse. She sized up Rose in an instant and scoffed. “Very sneaky trick of his. Especially coming out of hyperjump. You could have been killed!”

Rose shook her head. Her brain must still be deprived of oxygen because what the woman was saying wasn’t making sense. “Where are we?”

“Just off the Final Planet. Which is out of orbit.” The woman grumbled. “But I found it anyway.” 

Rose knew the words, but they still weren’t making any sense. She could only stare in silence.

“Landing ahead! Lock yourself in!” she ordered. She was standing close enough to Rose she could feel the woman’s breath on her face, warm and moist. 

Then it clicked. “Landing, on a planet. Are we on a spaceship?”

“Where’d you think you were? I scooped you up. Now strap in!”

“Wait!” Rose cried before she could turn away. “Where’s the Doctor?”

“I only seen you.” 

“I was with her. We can’t leave her out there to die. You need to go back and look for her.” She clung to the only bit of potential familiarity she had in this strange place.

“If she’s still out there, she’s dead already, now strap in!” the woman said emphatically. She returned to her seat, which Rose could now see were the spaceship controls. Blue monitors flashed around her.

Rose went back to the platform, the reality sinking in. _I’m on a spaceship. I was in space and I’m on a spaceship_

About to land on a strange planet. 

_Alone_. The Doctor had saved Rose’s life. She’d die alone in the blackness. She wished she knew how to convince the woman to go back, try to save her, but the steely gaze told her any attempts were futile.

The vibrations grew more pronounced until there was a violent shaking under her. She thought her teeth would rattle out of her skull. She stared at the ceiling, a maze of pipes, wondering what came next.

—  
A desert. Yellow sand against the sky of perfect blue. Three glowing orbs in the sky.

An alien planet. 

The sand shifted underneath Rose’s feet as she rushed to catch up with the woman-Angstrom. She’d introduced herself before departing the ship. 

“What is this place?” she asked. They were walking through a narrow channel of land, banks on either side. A riverbed gone dry.

Angstrom didn’t turn around. “Told ya, the Final Planet. Did you hit your head? Did the Medipod not repair the damage?” 

“I’m fine.” Rose felt like she was talking into the woman’s enormous backpack. “But what are you doing here?”

The woman chuckled. “You’re a funny bonus.” 

“Bonus? I’m not a bonus.” 

“Okay, fine, play dumb,” Angstrom said. “Wait, what’s that?”

Rose was about to ask what, but then she heard it a low buzzing sound. She turned around to see a spaceship, smoke pouring out the back, headed towards them impossibly fast.

“Finskad! How’d he ever make it!” Her eyes lit up in alarm as the spaceship plummeted to the ground. “Run!” 

Rose ran as hard as she could, feet finding hard ground under the sand. The ship was close enough for her to smell smoke and oil. She coughed, choking on the smoke,. She could never outrun a spaceship. Angstrom grabbed her arm, urging her forward. A roar behind them and a wave of heat. Angstrom led her to the end of the channel and urged her down. Her legs screamed in relief. She squeezed her eyes, bracing for impact.

When the engine stopped, Rose looked behind her. A faint figure in the cloud of dust and sand. Striding towards her.

The Doctor. She’d been aboard the other ship. Her heart leapt in relief. Was that her ship that had nearly run them over? It looked like a molten pile of junk. 

“Sorry about that,” she said. “I made a terrible mistake. I’m gonna fix it and get you home. As soon as I figure out where we are.”

“You don’t know?” Her hope sank. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a man emerge from the dust, face affixed in a permanent sneer. From the way he walked past the Doctor, she guessed they didn’t know each other. Or she’d pissed him off. The latter was more likely.

“Nope. By the way, welcome to what I presume is your first alien planet. Don’t touch anything!” Before she could reply, The Doctor took off, running after Angstrom and the man, who were squabbling with each other. 

—  
The inside of the tent was surprisingly posh, considering the barren landscape. Blue-green draperies covered the walls. The man on the sofa surveyed them all with disdain. Rose stood at the entrance, unsure of what she should be doing. Angstrom and the man-she’d overheard her calling him Epzo-were still arguing.

The four of them focused their attention on the tent’s resident, a man sitting on a set of cushions. 

“This is lavish, for a tent,” The Doctor remarked. Good to know they were on the same wavelength. “I’m the Doctor, and this is my new best friend, Rose.”

Rose felt a tickle in her stomach. _New best friend_. It seemed to fit somehow, despite the fact they’d only just met. She already felt like she’d known the Doctor for ages. She remembered something about friendships being forged in crisis, and so far, time with the Doctor had been one crisis after another. 

“Let’s see now…” she thrust out her hand, and the tent flickered. “A hologram! Thought it might be!” 

Angstrom and Epzo spoke to the hologram-whom they called Ilin-claiming she and the Doctor were bonuses. Bonuses for what, she wondered?

“Sorry, some of this is my fault. I got a fix on my ship here, and then it all went wrong. Can I ask, what is actually going on here? Cause I’m confused.” 

“You are intruding on the final stage of the last ever Rally of the Twelve Galaxies.” If holograms had feelings, this one was annoyed.

“So what, like a space race?” asked the Doctor. 

“Four thousand entered. Two are left. Only one will claim the prize. 3.2 trillion trin,” said Ilin.

“How much is that?” asked the Doctor.

“Enough to provide a lifetime of comfort on a safe world for their winning pilot and their entire clan.” 

“Oh, it’s like _The Hunger Games_!” exclaimed Rose. 

Epzo and Angstrom stared at her. “The what?” Angstrom asked. 

“It’s a book.” She’d read it during slow times at the library. “Kids, teenagers, have to fight each other and they win food to feed their district.” She didn’t dare mention the tributes had to fight to the death. She didn’t want to give them ideas. Both Angstrom and Epzo looked like they could kill her bare-handed.

“Yes!” The Doctor pointed at her. “Wait ‘til you get to the third book. Cried my eyes out.”

Epzo grumbled, “We ain’t got time for stories.” He glared at the hologram. “Get on with it.” 

The hologram explained: cross the terrain to the other side of the planet, over the mountains, to the site of The Ghost Monument. The winner would be transported off-planet. The loser would not, despite the pilots’ protests. 

“What about us?” asked Rose.

“Shut up. You’re not part of this,” Epzo said.

“So what, we just get left here?” Rose tried not to panic. 

“If you ain’t a bonus, yeah.” Epzo shrugged. He reminded Rose of one of the blokes who hung around the estate, talking themselves up a lot but never accomplishing more than getting shitfaced at the corner pub. 

The Doctor continued to argue with Ilin as the pilots grabbed their route trackers and headed out of the tent. Haranguing him for more information about The Ghost Monument. _She’ll get us out of this. She has to._ But she had nothing solid to grab onto, just a hope. But from Ilin’s description-don’t drink the water, don’t travel at night, the planet’s been made cruel-didn’t lend itself to hope.

“The Ghost Monument was named by the ancient settlers. It appears once in the same place every thousand rotations.” A bluish display appeared. The Doctor’s mouth hung open in astonishment. Rose looked at the display, only to see a blue police box, like the kind from her Gran’s time, on a dune of sand.

“Police box? Why is there a police box on an alien planet?” she looked to the Doctor. The light from the box reflected on her cheeks, as she stood quietly in awe. 

Then everything disappeared, and they were under the hot bright suns. Rose looked around but there was only empty space and the Doctor, who was grinning.

“Where’d he go?” Rose asked. “What do we do now? We’re stuck here.”

“We follow them.” The Doctor pointed to two sets of footprints. Angstrom and Epzo were visible a distance ahead.

“But you heard him. He won’t let us off the planet.”

“He doesn’t need to,” said the Doctor. “That police box, what he called the Ghost Monument, that’s the TARDIS. It’s here.”

“That’s your ship? That police box” Rose said. “Thought it’d be all fancy.”

“Oi, it’s very fancy! It’s a classic!” the Doctor retorted. “I got it mostly right. I tracked my TARDIS here, but the planet had fallen out of orbit. We landed where the planet should have been. It looks like the engines are stuck in a loop, phasing in and out of time and space. If we get to it…oooh!” the Doctor grabbed her head with both hands, taking in a sharp breath.

“What is it?”

“Another headache.” After a moment, she looked up. “Better now. Anyway, if we can get to the TARDIS, I can get you off this planet and back home. I’m really good in a tight spot. At least historically I have been, I’m sure I still am.”

Rose wanted to believe her. It was a desperate chance, but it was all that she had.

“Right then. Let’s get a shift on!” The Doctor rushed to follow the footprints.

—  
By the time they found the boat Ilin mentioned, it felt like they’d been walking for days. Rose licked her dry lips. She’d be shaking sand out of her shoes for weeks afterward. At least it wasn’t the oppressive mugginess she’d left back in England. On Earth.

Despite the danger and the heat and two disagreeable traveling partners, she couldn’t help but feel exhilarated. She kept sneaking glances up at the suns, marveling in the endless horizon even if it was only dunes. The Doctor had mentioned other planets, other civilizations. What were they like? She’d have to ask if they made it through this. 

The boat was docked at a pier that looked like it was about to fall into the water. Rose took cautious steps as she walked across, hoping the boards wouldn’t give way. The others had gone ahead of her; she’d fallen a distance behind, but she’d seen the Doctor board. The pilots stood at the entrance, milling about. Rose went to follow her aboard when Epzo stood in her way, blocking her path. 

“Uh-uh. Not a chance.” He folded his arms. “You lot ain’t taking the boat from us.”

“I just want to sit down.” Rose tried to push past him, but he stood firm.

“No. She gets the boat fixed, you and she take off and leave us stranded. I ain’t havin’ that.” 

“The boat’s broken?” She pushed down the alarm in her chest. The Doctor might be able to fix it, but that did no good if Epzo wouldn’t let her on. 

“The Doctor’s taking a look,” Angstrom sounded resigned. “Don’t think there’s much she can do. ”

“Rubbish. She’s good at machines. Brilliant, actually,” she said, mostly to reassure herself. “She’ll get us going.” 

Epzo scoffed. “Who’s to say she won’t take off and leave us all behind? She’s dead set on finding her ship. How do we know she wouldn’t sacrifice any one of us?” 

Rose shook her head. “She wouldn’t do that.”

“You sure about that?”

Rose took a moment to answer. She barely knew the Doctor. She thought of Nardole, and how he’d been acting cagey about their activities in Bristol. There was something instinctive, deep inside her that made her want to trust the Doctor. She looked Epzo straight in the eye, with as much conviction as she could muster. “I’m sure.” 

Epzo shook his head, unconvinced. “Poor little girl. You don’t know better, do you?”

Despite her insides shaking, Rose was ready to snap at him. She clenched her fists, ready to go off on him, but she felt a hand on her shoulder. Angstrom, pulling her aside. “Don’t let him wind you up. He’s a knob.” 

“A knob that’s going to win the race!” Epzo called after them.

Rose stared into the ocean, taking deep breaths, trying to regain her composure. In a way, Epzo was right. Compared to them, she was one girl who’d never been off-planet, barely been outside of England. What did she know about the larger galaxy? The water was clear and still, and she could see to the sandy bottom. No fish or other creatures, not even plants. Aside from the four of them, she hadn’t seen another sign of life since she arrived.

“Never seen so much water.” Angstrom stood beside her, looking off into the distance. “Calming. Wasn’t expecting that.”

“It can be.” Rose thought of the Thames at home, which was crammed with tourism boats. She wondered how Angstrom had ended up here, in this race. But judging by the stakes involved and her rough appearance, she didn’t think Angstrom entered for fun. 

She was about to ask when the Doctor appeared at the boat’s entrance. “Up and running. All aboard!” 

Epzo cut in front of them to made sure he boarded first. As Rose sank into the hard bench, she felt weariness overcome her. They must have walked for miles. Her bones ached with exhaustion. She closed her eyes as she leaned against the side.

The Doctor sat across from her, brows furrowed in concern. “Tired?”

“A bit.” She didn’t want to appear vulnerable. But not only was she exhausted, but she was also hungry and thirsty. The brief stop for croissants on the way to Paddington Station felt like years ago. 

“According to the route trackers, we’ve got a few hours before we get to the other side of the ocean. Get some rest. I’ll wake you when we get there.” 

Rose nodded, in no shape to protest further. The boat rocked gently from side to side as it moved through the water, and the motion lulled her to sleep.

And a dream.

—

Rose has had this dream before, several times. The first time, several years ago, she’d woken up with a start, sheets soaked in sweat and heart threatening to pound out of her chest. No matter how many times she had the dream, the terror rose anew, a blank mind-slate. 

She’s alone in a tunnel, stark white at every surface. She doesn’t know how she got there. She calls, “Hello?” No answer. In the distance, there’s an exit, a lone spot of black. No matter how hard she walks or runs, it never gets closer.

Writing appears on the walls. First one line, then another and another and another, in rapid succession, until the walls are full. She tries to read the writing, but it’s in a language she doesn’t understand. She reaches out to touch the letters, and they are brushed away like dust. The letters form again-different text than before.

The letters start to glow, pulsating with yellow light in a slow-motion strobe. She can feel the heat from them, like a hot oven. 

Then she hears a rumbling. Whisker-fine cracks form in the ground, and in the distance behind her, she sees the ground collapse, a cloud of dust rising in the air. The collapsing is spreading, coming towards her at an alarming speed. She runs and runs, but there’s still no end to the tunnel and the crumbling is coming faster and faster. She can feel the floor giving way under her heels. She tries to run faster, but it’s not enough and she’s falling and falling and falling, she never stops falling. Over her screams, she can make out the guttural growl of an animal…

—  
Rose jolted awake, gasping for breath. She was in darkness, somewhere she didn’t recognize, and her back ached and her feet hurt and the ground wouldn’t stop moving--

“Rose.” A cool hand on her own. “You’re okay.”

She took the hand, squeezing it out of instinct. An anchor in a mental sea of chaos.

“You’re okay,” the Doctor repeated. ”We’re still on the boat.”

The memory jolted through her. She was on another planet, with the Doctor, trying to find her spaceship. In the dim light, she could see the Doctor’s worried expression.

“Right,” she said, trying to slow her breathing. She heard the purr of the boat’s engine coupled with the water sloshing against the hull. Further down she could make out Angstrom, slouched over as she slept. Epzo sat across from her, running his fingers over a large cigar.

“Everything all right?” the Doctor asked. “I know it’s been a rough time, but you’re handling it like a pro.”

“I’m fine! Really.” Rose sat up. She wasn’t going to admit she’d been scared of a nightmare, like a child. Not in front of Epzo. “I woke up and I was a little disoriented, that’s all. It happens.”

“Don’t remind me. Took a nap in the TARDIS once and ended up in 15th century Spain. Spent a lot of time running from the Spanish Inquisition.” As she spoke, the engines stopped, leaving only the sound of soft snoring. “The engines cut out because we’re about to make our approach.” The Doctor explained. She opened the canopy, revealing the shore. “We’re here.”


	5. The Ghost Monument (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As they make their way through Desolation, the Doctor and Rose deal with killer robots, Epzo's laziness-and an alarming prophecy.

The Ghost Monument (II)

When Ilin said the planet had been made cruel, Rose hadn’t expected it would try to kill them every five minutes.

She pumped her legs against the shifting sand, fueled on fear and adrenaline. Only a moment ago, the Doctor had been wrong about the robot guards at her back being unactivated, and now the interior of the ruins couldn’t meet them quickly enough. 

“Swerve! Don’t run straight! They’re predicting our path!” the Doctor exclaimed between pants. “In there!” 

“I can see that!” she fired back, with a flash of anger. The Doctor had insisted on exploring the ruins, going off course from Angstrom and Epzo. And the route trackers. The sun was setting, and she thought of the warning to not travel at night. 

Inside the chamber, Rose leaned over to catch her breath, only to gasp as sticks came up from the floor. She took a step back, only to hit another one with her shoe. She braced herself for another attack.

“Hmmm, what have we here?” The Doctor had found an old, unmoving robot and soniced. Her face fell. “Oh, that’s bad. They’re Sniperbots. We just walked into the middle of their shooting range. Everything in the perimeter is target practice.” 

“These are targets then?” Rose pointed to the sticks.

The Doctor nodded. “And us, too.”

Rose scanned the chamber floor looking for something to fight back with when she spotted the barrel of a rifle half-buried in the sand. “Doctor, there’s a gun over there, you could—”

“No.” The Doctor turned white-hot with anger, fists clenched. “No guns. Never use them.” 

“What, never?” she barked back. “Fine, I’ll use it.” She moved towards the rifle, but the Doctor grabbed her arm.

“No. Guns. Have I been unclear?” Her eyes smoldered, raged mired with conviction. She hadn’t seen the Doctor be this severe before. 

“But we’re trapped in here.” Rose wrested her arm back, rubbing her wrist where the Doctor grabbed her. “Are we just going to let them kill us then?” 

“There’s always another answer.” The Doctor hunted on the floor as the Sniperbots advanced. Annoyed, Rose hid behind a pillar in a futile attempt at protection. If they didn’t bring down the roof by knocking out the pillars, they’d shoot her in a matter of seconds. All because the Doctor was being ridiculous about…

She saw the Doctor point at something with the sonic, and then the robots dropped in place. Stopped dead.

“What was that? What did you do?!” She shouted behind the pillar. She wasn’t taking any chances after the sudden activation.

“Electromagnetic pulse. I reckon we’ve got about five minutes before they reboot and recover. See? I told you there was another answer. Come on.” She waved. 

Rose followed the Doctor, careful to avoid touching the Sniperbots. As full of herself as the Doctor had been in the moment, she couldn’t help but be impressed. This was becoming a pattern.

—  
Reunited with Angstrom and an injured Epzo, they found tunnels, buried deep beneath the surface. A map showed tunnels that would take them to the Ghost Monument, under the mountains. The Doctor went through each room, a laboratory full of junk and mould, in her now-familiar full investigation mode.

Rose glanced back at Epzo, napping, as she moved into another room. He’d fallen asleep almost immediately. The Doctor had snapped at him earlier for his urging them forward, saying she needed to find out if anyone was in trouble here. The ruins had her on edge. Was it the pitfalls on this planet, or that they were running out of time? 

If there were other beings here, perhaps they were in hiding. “Hello?” she called. No answer. Her eyes fell on the floor. Some kind of inscription. “Doctor, over here!”

“What is it?” The alien came running towards her. “Oh! Writing! Love writing.” Her expression dropped as she scanned the contents. “Oh no.”

“What’s it say?” Angstrom caught up with them.

“We are scientists. Abducted, tortured and made to work, while our families are held hostage.” She read slowly, as much for translation as to absorb the full meaning. “We are forced to find new ways of destruction. Poisons, weapons, creatures. We gave them our minds and they made us the creators of death. This planet has been left scorched and barren from our work. The atmosphere and water are toxic. Killing machines and creatures inhabit every corner. We had no choice but to obey... The Stenza.”

Angstrom crumpled, sitting down on a broken wall for support, looking unusually vulnerable. “The Stenza took our planet, sent us into hiding. Cleansed millions of us.” Her voice broke. “They killed my wife.” 

“I’m sorry about your wife,” Rose told Angstrom. It was the only thing she could think to say.

“Thank you,” Angstrom managed. Her softened posture lasted only for a moment before they heard Epzo’s muffled screams.

\--

_”Finally, a big feast of lives”_

The words, sibilant and raw, struck against frightened flesh as the strips danced through the air around them, circling them in a trap. More things like the one that had nearly strangled Epzo in the tunnels Rose stood frozen, watching, as if standing statue-like would prevent them from striking. She could feel the air from their whipped but patterned movement. They looked like mere cloth but were anything but innocuous.

“They’re Remnants of past experiments.” The Doctor spoke with severity as she panned around to survey the strips. Rose put all her efforts into slowing her short breaths of panic. Too much of the pungent, sharp gas in the air was no better than being choked to death. “Everyone, get down. Acetylene’s lighter than air. Slowly, dig into the hand,”

The strips were so close they were practically touching. Rose was afraid to move but she saw Angstrom shuffling her feet, kicking a shallow depression in the sand, and followed suit. 

Epzo mumbled under his breath about how this was a stupid idea and they were as good as dead, but he did the same. The strips continued to swirl around but made no move to strike. Rose tried to think of acetylene. She’d heard the name before, on Earth, but for what?

_”You can’t save them_ ” A Remnant hissed. _“We smell your fear too. The strongest of all.”_

“You want fears?” cried the Doctor. “I’ve got a dozen lifetimes’ worth.” 

Welding torches. That where she’d heard of acetylene. One of Mum’s old boyfriends, when she was little, had worked in a machine shop. He’d warned her not to touch the acetylene tanks. The fire, he’d said, was so hot Satan himself couldn’t stand it.

A Remnant halted its mid-air slither to stand erect in front of the Doctor. _”You lead but you’re scared, too, for yourself and others._ ”

”Yeah, well, who isn’t?” 

_”Afraid of your own newness. We see further back, the things hidden from you.”_ The Remnant almost sounded as if it were gloating. _“The Disintegrator has come.”_

“Who? What are you talking about?” 

_“Trapped for eons, the Disintegrator will rise. Galaxies torn apart. Planets will burn. Billions dead. She will do it because of you.”_

The Doctor’s breath hitched, but only for a moment before her lips formed a tight line. “You’ll have to narrow it down. I know a lot of women capable of that. Planets will burn? Maybe we should start with this one.” She shot a look at Epzo. 

They could burn the Remnants with the acetylene. But how? They didn’t have matches or a lighter or anything…except Epzo’s cigar. Rose grabbed it and threw it in the air.

“Down!” The Doctor cried.

The Doctor snapped her fingers as everyone dove into the dirt. Flames scorched the air, and Rose thought she could hear the shrill screams of the Remnants being burned to death. Seconds stretched endlessly before the fire burned itself out. The heat hung heavy over them. 

“My cigar!” Epzo moaned. “You have any idea how much that cost?”

“Can’t enjoy it if you’re dead.” Angstrom poked at one of the burnt Remnants, which crumbled at her touch. “Let’s keep going.”

—  
Traces of smoke still hung in the air as the four approached the white tent, hours later. The acetylene must have spread for miles on end. The suns glowed on the distant horizon, bathing the sands in a pinkish hue. It was a beautiful planet when it wasn’t trying to kill them. Rose was glad to have stopped. She’d been walking all night, and longed for nothing more than the chance to sit and rest.

The Doctor, on the other hand, was perplexed. “Where’s my ship? I don’t understand.” She turned around, making a full orbit. “It should have been here.” 

Rose tried to be helpful. “Maybe we check inside the tent?”

“Yeah, come on,” Angstrom waved them over. “I’m gonna claim my prize.”

“Your prize?” Epzo was belligerent. “It was my cigar that saved us all. It’s my prize.” 

The tension mounted as the two of them argued. Rose wanted to ask the Doctor to step in, but she was walking through the sand, muttering about her ship. The glint of Epzo’s blaster reflected in the light, and she hoped he didn’t think to use it. To be stuck on a planet and watching them kill each other….

Then she had a thought.

“I have an idea,” she told them. “What if you go in at the same time? Joint winners.” It had worked in _The Hunger Games_. 

“What? No.” Epzo spit the words out with disgust. “It’s my prize, and I’m takin’ it.” 

“You don’t stand a chance, Epzo. I could beat you in a race to the tent,” Angstrom said. Turning to Rose, she scoffed. “Why should I let him have anything?”

“You think it’s fair, to shut him out? He’s right, we made it here as a team. We should share the victory. Think this is what your wife would want?”

Angstrom gave her a hard stare before letting out a sigh. “All right then. S’pose the pot is big enough to split.”

They headed towards the tent, rushing as to keep one from getting ahead of the other. Rose waved to the Doctor. “C’mon, the answers to where your ship is have got to be in there.”

—  
The answers were not in the tent. 

After Epzo and Angstrom were declared joint winners, they and the tent vanished. Rose and the Doctor were left with nothing but dunes and despair.

“I’m sorry.” The Doctor said, shoulders sagging in defeat. “I failed you. We’ll be dead in one rotation.” 

“You can’t just give up.” Rose tried to ignore the sense of doom in her gut as well as the shakiness of her legs. If she didn’t eat soon, or have some water, she was going to collapse. “We’ll keep looking, no matter what? Maybe it got moved.” 

“But what would move it? There’s no one to…” then she stilled. A wheezing sound, quiet but unmistakable. Rose didn’t know what it was, but from the Doctor’s widened eyes and slow smile, it was the sound of hope. 

“My TARDIS” she whispered, pointing behind Rose. An apparition appeared on the crest of a dune, a blue rectangle in with the faintest of presence. 

“She’s still stuck in the time loop.” The Doctor pulled out the sonic. “Come to Daddy. I mean, Mummy. I mean, I really need you right now.” 

Time slowed at Rose watched between the still-faint TARDIS and the light of the sonic. This was their best chance. Maybe their only chance. 

The box materialized, solid as rock, with a loud thud. 

“My beautiful Ghost Monument.” The Doctor stood for a moment in quiet reverence before breaking into a run. 

Up close, the TARDIS was smaller than Rose thought, not much bigger than a phone booth. “It’s going to be a tight fit, yeah?” She thought of the early NASA missions she’d learned about in school. Two or three astronauts jammed into a tiny capsule.

“Wanna see?” The Doctor grinned as she pushed open the door. Without a word, Rose followed her inside. And gasped.

She’d been expecting sterile machinery, walls lined with switches and buttons. But this was beyond all comprehension. For one thing, The TARDIS was huge. Impossibly huge, the ceiling reaching far over her head. Golden crystals arched overhead like fingers. Blue light flashed through hexagonal windows, and despite the metal walls, the ship had a warm, organic feel. Lit platforms led up to another crystal erupting out of the center, surrounded by what she guessed were the ship’s controls. It was breathtaking. Rose found herself flooded with calm. No, not calm. Peace. She’d never been religious-Mum hadn’t set foot in a church since Dad died. But she was certain at a visceral level this was what it felt to be at peace. 

The Doctor looked wondrous as if she were seeing the ship for the first time herself. “What do you think?”

How could she put what she was feeling into words? “It’s bigger…inside.” She managed. “How?”

“I get that question a lot.” The Doctor chuckled. “In short, dimensional engineering. Fitting multiple dimensions to fit inside a smaller space.”

Rose wasn’t sure what that meant, but it didn’t stop her from absorbing everything she was seeing. She ran her hand over one of the crystal pillars. Smooth as a mirror, the surface was cool to the touch. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

“There’s nothing like my TARDIS,” the Doctor said. “She can go anywhere, any place in the universe, any time. And it’s going to get you home.” Taking a close look at an hourglass, she turned it over, then pulled a giant lever. Rose heard the wheezing sound again. A shiver of excitement rippled through her as the floor beneathe her rumbled. 

“It’s gonna take me a bit to map a course.” The Doctor studied the panel, her fingers gliding over the controls. “Why don’t you sit down, get something to eat? Kitchen is right through there, eighth door on the left. Or it used to be.” 

“There’s more?” Her eyebrows went up. 

“A lot more.” She flashed a grin. “Be careful though. Not sure where the swimming pool ended up.”

Rose shook her head as she headed out of the console room. The corridor stretched out into infinity, and she wondered what other surprises it would bring.

—  
The kitchen was in fact, right where the Doctor said it was and was even stocked with proper food. She’d half been expecting something dehydrated or unrecognizable. She hastily constructed a ham and cheese sandwich, but her hunger and exhaustion were already forgotten before she took a bite. She felt like she could take on the world. Any world. She’d survived an alien planet. And now she was headed back to Earth in this beautifully impossible spaceship. Her head thrummed with exhilaration, only broken by the bittersweet realization it was all going to end soon, very soon. 

Rose returned to the console room just as the wheezing of the engines faded. 

“We’re here. 2009. Earth, London. Your estate. About an hour after we left.” The Doctor sounded upbeat, though her brows were creased. “You’re home. Also, you can have your jacket back. The one on the left.” she pointed to the coat rack, where two identical leather jackets hung. 

Home. The word hit Rose differently than she expected. She thought she’d be relieved. But she could only think of what was on the other side of the door. A cycle of sameness. None of it could match what she’d seen and done.

The Doctor remained fixed at the console, fidgeting with the controls. She looked a bit impatient but making no move to get Rose off her ship. But it was something in her eyes, a plaintive longing, that made Rose speak.

“Doctor,” she asked. “Do you ever take people with you?” 

“Sometimes.” She kept her expression neutral, though she was straining not to smile. “Are you asking?”

Rose hesitated for a moment. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. “Yeah,” she said quietly. 

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?” 

“Yeah,” she repeated, with more conviction. “I want to come with you. Just for a bit. Not forever. I mean, I’ve got a home to go back to, and I won’t be any trouble, I promise, I just want to see what’s out there.” 

“You need to be sure. We got lucky today, but that doesn’t always happen. It’s dangerous out there.” The Doctor’s tone was serious. But her lips kept twitching upwards in an attempt to smile. “I can’t guarantee you’ll come back.” 

“I know, I know. I saw that today. I’m sure.” She had to stop herself from babbling.“So I can come?” 

The Doctor broke out into a full smile. “Yeah, I’d love it! Rose Tyler, welcome aboard, properly.” 

Rose grinned back. “Do you mind if I stop at home and grab a few things? Just clothes, toothbrush and all that. Won’t even be fifteen minutes. Ten minutes.” 

“No rush.” The Doctor leaned against the console. “Need to check out a few more systems on the TARDIS anyway.”

Rose gave her a little wave before she nearly skipped out of the TARDIS. Rushing towards her flat, she concocted a story to tell Mum. Her mate Delia was going on holiday and invited her along. A few weeks, tops. Besides, if the TARDIS was a time machine, she could come back whenever she wanted.

—  
The Doctor chewed on a custard cream, barely tasting it as she contemplated what had just taken place.

She should leave. 

She should take off. Now. Leave Rose here, never to see her or the TARDIS again. 

It wasn’t that she didn’t like Rose. She did. Rose had the qualities she liked in humans-clever, compassionate, curious-and the Doctor was certain she’d love every moment of traveling the stars. All the more reason not to take her. To ruin her. To subject her to the fate of her former companions. Dead, abandoned, or alone. 

Her fingers closed around the main lever. The memory would fade like a dream. Rose would be fine.

But the Doctor couldn’t make herself pull. 

_He’s too dangerous to be left alone_. The words of her former self, the one with sideburns and trainers. What he’d told a woman who was now barely a memory. He’d said it about his clone, but it had applied to him too, hadn’t it? No reason to think this new regeneration was not just as dangerous, if not more. 

The Doctor’s hand slipped off the lever. At the very least, Rose would be a buffer against the loneliness of a vast universe. But there was something else, lurking beneath the surface, a fear of something she didn’t want to face alone.

_The Disintegrator_.

_Planets will burn._

_She will do it because of you._

Something about the Remnants’ words that chilled her bones. Who was the Disintegrator? She’d never heard the name before. 

Was it someone she knew? It sounded like the work of Missy, destroying planets to get her attention. Missy was dead. Not that she’d let death stop her. River, trapped in the Library computer-she felt a brief flicker of hope before shaking her head. River could be callous at times, but mass destruction wasn’t her style. 

The Doctor grabbed another custard cream from the dispenser, pushing away her uneasiness. She didn’t put stock in prophecies anyway. 

At least, that was what she tried to tell herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the Remnnants' mention of the Timeless Child in the original episode isn't a prophecy, but it's my fic and I get to take liberties :) 
> 
> Next time: The Haunted Tower.


	6. The Haunted Tower (I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose’s first adventure as a full-fledged companion takes her to an future human colony that’s been plagued by a mass disappearance…and ghosts.
> 
> And if that isn’t bad enough, Brutalist architecture has made a comeback :)

Rose slowly opened her eyes in her bedroom on the TARDIS. After the Doctor had shown her to her quarters and she’d dropped her duffel bag, she’d laid down, intending to close her eyes for a few minutes. She looked at her phone. 

7:13am

She’d been out for over fourteen hours. Oops. 

She sat up with a start. The Doctor must be wondering if she was going to sleep through their entire trip. Throwing on fresh clothes from her still unpacked bag (another thing she meant to do last night), she shoved her hair into a ponytail before heading to the console room, half-jogging.

The Doctor had given her a partial tour last night, covering the “most important rooms”-kitchen, sickbay, the library, and the skating rink-but she’d said the ship was too big to see all at once. She’d also mentioned the rooms could move around, depending on if they were needed. Rose still couldn’t wrap her head around that. The Doctor had given her a long-winded explanation about telepathy and quantum structural engineering, but she’d only understood every tenth word. She glanced at the other rooms along the corridor, wondering what mysteries they held. She’d mentioned a swimming pool-she had to be kidding, right?

There was no sign of the Doctor when Rose entered the console room. (“It’s the best place to find me,” she’d said the night before. “Unless I’m getting tea in the kitchen, or I’m picking apples in the orchard. Hard to tell with this new body, where I’m going to end up.”) Rose debated the merits of staying put or searching endless doors to look for her, when she heard a clanking from the other side of the console, metal hitting metal. “Doctor?”

“Right here!” She popped up, a teasing smile on her soot-smudged cheeks. “Rose Tyler, back from the dead.”

Rose brushed against the console as she walked over, careful not to touch any buttons. The ship looked complicated, and the Doctor was insistent she not touch anything. Part of the console was torn apart, and there was an array of parts scattered around her. “Everything all right with the TARDIS?”

“Yeah, just doin’ console maintenance. Been up doing it since you passed out.” 

“Have you been up all night? Sorry I slept so long. Guess I was knackered.”

“You’re human. You need a lot of sleep.” The Doctor shrugged. She wasn’t bothered, only matter-of-fact. And she was in the same outfit-her old clothes-with her jacket was still hanging on the coat rack. 

“So where are we?” she asked. She was imaging far-flung galaxies, with names impossible to pronounce. Something she’d never expect. “Somewhere good, I hope.”

“Oh yes, the best place.” The Doctor grinned. “We’re in Cardiff.”

“Cardiff?!” Her enthusiasm deflated. Cardiff was only three hours from home. “All of the universe, and we’re in Cardiff?”

“A rift in space and time runs right through the center of Cardiff. Emits radiation that can be used to fuel the TARDIS. After Desolation, she’s running on fumes.” The Doctor kept glancing at the door as if she expected someone to walk through at any moment. “We’ll be here for another hour.” 

Rose raised an eyebrow in skepticism. “There’s radiation in the center of Cardiff, and nobody’s noticed? Wouldn’t that be making people sick or something?” 

“This type of radiation, harmless to living creatures, but it’s a perfect spaceship energy supply. Good thinking though.”

“Thanks. I’ll come back in an hour.” This gave her a chance to wash up, at least. She turned to leave, but not before the Doctor shouted after her.

“Wait! Important question.” The Doctor’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “Your first proper trip in the TARDIS. Where do you want to go, past or future?” 

Rose considered the question for a moment, pressing her lips together in thought. Boundless possibilities either way. The word rolled off her lips. ”Future”. 

The Doctor snapped her fingers. “I know just the place. How does a human colony sound? “Nothing will try to kill you on this planet. Probably not.”

“That sounds amazing.” She imagined a city, gleaming white and polished, flying cars buzzing through the skies. Beautiful and endless and hers to observe. “See you in a bit.”

—  
The gentle rumbling under their feet halted as the groan of the engines reverberated through the console room. The last groaning echo faded as the Doctor led Rose to the door.

“Late 22nd century. Humans have been spreading out, exploring the galaxy,” The Doctor explained. “Meeting new species, learning about each other. A few scuffles here and there, usual fights over territory and resources, but you make it! Humanity is thriving, building magnificent cities and towns, trying to learn the lessons of what went wrong on Earth.  
“Orchard is one of the first settlements, and one of the most famous. Humanity was putting down roots. Almost a hundred years old at this point. On the planet of Estragon, 6.2 light-years from Earth. Wait until you see this.” 

The Doctor swung open the door-to gloom and stench.

Rose slapped her hand over her nose, trying to block out the scent of dung and rotting cabbage. The night was pitch black, with only a string of small bulbs on the side of the road the only source of light. On either side of the TARDIS, Rose could make out a few homes, barely more than ramshackle huts. They looked like they’d been thrown together in a hurry, a patchwork of wood and scrap metal. The road beneath looked properly made, clean straight line leading forward, though she noticed a few jagged cracks in the pavement. An air of apathy hung over the block, from the disheveled yards to the piles of garbage strewn around the road. Not a person was in sight. Along a row of boards masquerading as a fence was spray-painted the words: _Beware. His Judgment Has Come to Those Left Behind._

Above them, a tall, grey tower loomed, stretching into the dark sky. The tower was the only well-maintained structure she could see, but not a single window was lit. 

“This is how humans live in the future?” she asked. She’d been expecting something clean, modern, streamlined. Not a slum.

The Doctor shook her head slowly. “This shouldn’t be here at all. Everyone lives in Orchard Tower. It’s a superstructure. Living quarters, entertainment, offices, everything contained in one building.  
She pointed up to the tower. “Look at that! Classic neo-Brutalist architecture. Whole building’s made of warmstone; saves on heating that way.”

“Then why is it completely dark?” Rose asked. “Maybe there was a war? An invasion?”

“Hard to tell. We should take a look around.” The Doctor was already moving through the lane. 

The Doctor walked ahead, stopping every few meters to sonic something. Rose tried to avoid inhaling through her nose. The intense heat wasn’t doing the smell any favors. She peeked through the hut windows, where they weren’t boarded up. A few had soft glows inside, from an energy source, or, more likely, a fireplace. She couldn’t believe how hot it was, even late at night. “Are we in the middle of another desert?”

“No, it’s the warmstones. One of the features of Estragon. Stones that generate heat.” The Doctor pushed a lock of hair behind her ear as she poked through a pile of what looked like part of a roof. “It’s always warm here. Another reason to stay inside Orchard Tower, where there’s air conditioning.”

A glint of light caught Rose’s attention in the gutter. She squatted down to have a look. A metal bar, long and narrow, buried in a pile of muck. The bar was stuck and it took her a good tug with both hands to wrench it free. After brushing off the mud and garbage, she turned it over. One side was pure black, the other side had once been silver, now dulled and dented. She was about to look for the Doctor when she heard a rustling and saw something white moving out of the corner of her eye.

What was that?

It had been formless, a white blob about her size, but she’d been too far and it had moved to fast to get a good look. It could be an animal, something native to this planet. 

She found the Doctor bent down to scoop up some mud, poking it with her finger before putting it in her mouth.

“Doctor!” She was horrified. “Why are you eating that?!”

“What? It’s not bad. Besides, it’s the fastest way to get information. We’re on Estragon, year 219..3. Good carrot harvest this year. But not much in the way of protein.” Her gaze fell on the metal in Rose’s hand. “Oh, brilliant! You’ve found a universal commpanel!”

Before she could say anything else, the Doctor snatched it out her of hand, examining it. “This is the iPhone of the 2100s. Used on hundreds of planets. This one looks like it’s out of battery. We’ll see about that.” Pulling out the sonic, she pointed it at the commpanel. A spark, and then a glowing image was projected above the panel, scrolling text. It looked like news headlines. _Tool factory closing, hundreds laid off. Food goes to waste as farmers are unable to sell their crops, despite thousands starving. Interplanetary aid deal stalled for the fourth time_

In the blue light from the commpanel, the Doctor looked perplexed. “What happened here?” 

“Do they have archives? Maybe go back,” Rose suggested.

“Let’s see.” She soniced again. 

But before she could pull up another headline, they heard a reedy voice behind them: “You shouldn’t be here.” 

Both women whipped around. The speaker was a tall man with sunken cheeks and sallow skin. Dark hair, nearly black, framed his narrow face and features. His button-down shirt looked like it had been stylish once, but now had too many tears and stains to be considered more than rags. He stared down his nose at them, unspeaking, as if glaring could punt them off the premises. 

Despite his unfriendly tone, the Doctor was her usual bubbly self. “Wonderful, a local! I’m the Doctor, and this is Rose. Can you explain why Orchard is a hovel?”

The man’s features twisted in irritation. Rose nudged the Doctor, whispering, “He probably lives here. Don’t call his home a hovel.” 

“Oh, that’s rude, isn’t it?” she replied. 

“A bit, yeah.” 

“It’s past curfew.” The man spoke without acknowledging their conversation. “You ladies shouldn’t be walking around alone at night. Unprotected.”

“Excuse me, but we can protect ourselves just fine,” The Doctor huffed. “Mind tellin’ me what’s so dangerous?”

It was his turn to be confused. “You’re don’t know?”

“We’re not from around here. Just dropped in for a visit.”

“Why?” he asked. “Nobody comes to Orchard anymore.”

His tone sent a chill through Rose. “What is happening here?”

The man paused before his eyes widened. “Ghosts.”

—  
The man, who introduced himself as Pall, led them into his home, though with great reluctance. He’d explained they’d be safer, as the ghosts couldn’t come into the homes. Only the outdoors. And the Tower.

“Doctor, are ghosts real?” whispered Rose. She thought of the white blur she’d seen, and wondered if it was related.

“No. There must be another explanation.” The Doctor’s eyes darted around, as if she’d find the explanation written somewhere. 

Inside Pall’s house was sparse, but tidy. He gestured for the Doctor and Rose to sit down on a ragged sofa in the main room. A reddish-brown rock was the room’s focal point, and Rose felt the heat radiating off of its surface. One of the warmstones the Doctor mentioned.

A small girl, of seven or eight, wandered into the room. She wore a long nightgown and held a stuffed bear in one hand by the ear. “Daddy, who are they?” 

“You need to get to bed, Ellya,” he said roughly. 

“But I can’t sleep.” 

“We’re going to talk about the Vanishing, sweetheart.”

Ellya puffed out her chest. “I’m not a little girl anymore.”

He let out an exasperated sigh. “All right. Sit. But be quiet. Don’t interrupt.”

“Vanishing? That’s a new one. What happened?” asked the Doctor.

“You mean you don’t know about the Vanishing?” Pall’s grim countenance broke into surprise. “I assumed everyone in this sector did.” 

“Again, not from around here. Give us the deets,” the Doctor said, and then scrunched her nose. “No, never saying that again. Tell us what happened.”

“We used to live in the Tower. Me, Ellya, and Tarayse, my wife. She was a secretary, and I worked in the mines on the settlement outskirts. About a year ago twenty percent of the population vanished. Just gone in an instant. Nobody knows why or what how. One minute, everyone was there, having a normal day. The next, they were gone. Including Tarayse.” Tears formed in his eyes, threatening to spill over. “That was when the ghosts started appearing. They’re white, they float through the air, and if they get you-boom! You’re gone.” He clapped his hands. “You’re one of them.

“After the ghosts, it was decided to evacuate Orchard Tower. Too dangerous. Nobody lives there now. And everyone who could got off the planet. Everyone who could afford to. The rest of us were left behind to rot. I try to keep a roof over our head, take care of Ellya, but it ain’t easy. I pick up scrap, barter to people in exchange for food or newer clothes. Don’t know what’s worse-leaving her alone during the day, or going out at night when the ghosts come.”

“That’s awful,” Rose said. “And nobody cares that you’re all living like this?” She looked with sympathy to Ellya, who was listening but looking bored. This was no way for a child to grow up. “Nobody’s investigating why everyone disappeared?” 

He shook his head. “Not for the poor, they don’t.” 

“I’ll find out what’s going on.” The Doctor turned to Rose. “Let’s go back to the TARDIS. Sorry, this isn’t the trip I planned, and these people need my help. “

She nodded eagerly. “What are we going to do?”

“You’re going to wait in the TARDIS while I figure out why all those people vanished. There’s plenty to do. I’ll show you the movie theater. Or the mushroom farm. Mushrooms are fun.” She smiled.

Rose couldn’t help but be irritated. “Don’t be daft. I’m coming with you.” 

She frowned. “I don’t like it. Ghosts transforming people-it’s dangerous.”

“You warned me it would be dangerous,” she said. “Besides, I need to make sure you don’t eat anything else off the ground.”

“Oi, I’m not going to eat anything! Taste, maybe.”

“No tasting.” Rose was firm.

“Licking?”

“No licking!” 

The Doctor looked resigned. “All right.” To Pall, she said. “We need to get into the tower. That’s where this all started. That’s where the answers are.”

Pall shifted his weight as he looked at the ground. There was no proper floor, only packed ground. “The only one who can get you in is Zeddia, the acting administrator for the colony. Government all went up with the Vanishing. Don’t think he will though.” 

The Doctor held out the commpanel. “Give him a call. And tell me more about what’s been happening since the Vanishing. Let’s go outside, the signal is better.” 

“I want to go too!” Ellya cried. 

“Ellya, no.” Pall held firm, despite his run down expression. “It’s way past your bedtime. You need to get to sleep.”

Rose could see Pall was overwhelmed, particularly after reliving his wife’s disappearance again. She turned to the girl. “Ellya, why don’t I tell you a story?” She used the light, pleasant voice she used with the children at the library when they got too loud and rowdy. 

Ellya shifted from annoyance to pleasure. “Stor-y! Stor-y! Stor-y!”

“Let’s go in your room,” she said. Eager, Ellya ran to her room, her bear bumping against her leg. She suspected Pall wasn’t the type of father who read bedtime stories, or he didn’t have the energy for them. 

Like the house’s main room, Ellya’s bedroom was small, her bed the only furniture. Ellya flopped down on the bed and hung upside down over the side, her stringy brown hair brushing the floor. She looked expectantly at Rose. “I’m not afraid of the ghosts,” she said.

“I know.” The best thing to do with children her age was to affirm them. “You’re very brave. Your mum would be proud of you.” 

“She is.” Ellya sat up. “She tells me so when comes and visits through the window at night. ‘N’ she sings to me.”

Ellya must be dreaming of her mum. Rose couldn’t blame her. She’d often dreamed of Dad being alive. Still, something about the conversation put her on edge. “How about that story then? Do you know Little Red Riding Hood?” 

“Nope.”

Rose grinned. Little Red Riding Hood was one of her favorites for story time at the library. “Once upon a time, there was a little girl, as brave as you, called Little Red Riding Hood. She wore a red cloak, and she was the prettiest girl in all her village. One day, her mum asked her to take a basket of food to her gran, who lived in the woods. Red Riding Hood had to be very careful, and courageous, for bad things lurked in the woods…”

\--

Rose left Ellya asleep just in time for Zeddia to arrive. He was more put together than Pall, but still had an air of exhaustion and despair about him. His clothes hung off of him as if he’d lost a lot of weight. 

“You’ve been asking about the ghosts,” he addressed the Doctor. “Sorry, don’t think there’s much I can tell you. After the Vanishing, we had a group of our best remaining people on it. Scientists, engineers-even a minister for good measure. A couple weeks ago, there was an explosion, and the data is impossible to get to.”

“Well, this is your lucky day.” The Doctor smoothed back her hair. “I’m very good at impossible. Take us to the Tower, now.”

“But it’s the middle of the night. Ghosts will be everywhere,” he said.

“Good. Can’t wait to meet one.”

“Madam, are you insane?” 

“Yes!” she grinned. “I can’t find out what the ghosts are by long-distance. And if you want to show any actual leadership of this colony, you’ll want to find the answers.”

He gave a resigned sigh. “I’m not responsible if you’re taken.” 

“If it’s all the same to you, ladies,” Paul stifled a yawn. “I’m staying put. Besides, need to look after Ellya.”

The Doctor was already on her way out the door. Rose gave him a quick wave and thanked him for his help before following.

Zeddia led them through the streets, saying little. Rose couldn’t shake the sense of dread as they approached the tower’s entrance. Everything in her tugged to run in the opposite direction. Part of her wished she had stayed in the TARDIS. She tried to push it away. If she didn’t come with tonight she’d keep getting pushed to the sidelines at the slightest hint of danger. She hadn’t come across time and space to be a childminder.

“Are you afraid, Rose?” the Doctor looked at her with concern. 

“No, no, no, I’m not. I’m fine.” She tried to laugh, as if the idea of her being afraid was absurd, but it came out too high pitched. The last thing she wanted the Doctor to do was worry about her. “Really.”

“It’s okay to be afraid. Remember, safety in numbers.” The Doctor took her hand. Cool and smooth in her own, Rose felt something shift in herself. Not quite calm, but enough to take the edge off her fear. She didn’t know how to explain it, but she also didn’t let go of the Doctor’s hand until they reached the tower entrance.

Zeddia let them up a wide concrete ramp to a set of tall glass doors. One was shattered, an intricate pattern of cracks spread to the edges. “Vandals,” he explained as he swiped the doors unlocked. He pressed a button on his commpanel. “Emergency lights.”

The emergency lights, though spread throughout the floor, were far too dim to see much. Rose pulled out her phone and switched on the torch. Storefronts lined either side of a wide walkway. In the dim light, she could make out writing. Clothing stores, commpanel companies, medical offices. She heard the distant sound of dripping water. The only other sound was the Doctor, occasionally sonicing various objects. The promenade reminded Rose of the mall in Canary Wharf, only desolate. Graffiti on the smooth marble walls warned: _Abandon hope all ye who enter here_. She wiped a trickle of sweat from her brow; the stifling heat was even worse than outside. 

“Find anything?” she asked the Doctor.

“Everything’s normal,” she replied. “No unusual energy traces, no radiation. Nothing that would cause thousands of people to disappear.” 

Rose heard a creak and whipped around. A sign to the side of them, swaying on hinges, advertised a craft market. She let out a relieved sigh. She was too jumpy. Being in this creepy building was rubbing off on her. Any minute now, the Doctor would find a clue to what was happening, and they could leave. The sooner the better. 

Before she could complete that thought, she heard a crack, like a twig breaking but louder. Something made her freeze in her tracks. What started as a pinpoint of white light turned into a vaguely human shape ahead of them in the distance, bright enough to illuminate the entire promenade as if it were day. Rose remained fixed in place as if she were bound to the spot she was standing. 

The being charged toward them at a frightening pace.

“It’s coming towards us!” Zeddia exclaimed. “Run!”


	7. The Haunted Tower (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously, on _Doctor Who_....
> 
> The Doctor and Rose were investigating a superstructure inhabited by ghosts, where 20% of the population disappeared a year earlier. They've come face to face with one while looking for data to solve the mystery of the Vanishing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't intend on telling a ghost story around Halloween. It's just a happy coincidence. I hope to have the conclusion up later this week!

Ellya woke up with a start. Gentle warmth filled her room, the lights outside visible from cracks in her window. The last thing she’d remembered was the lady reading her the story about Red Riding Hood and the big bad wolf. She wished she’d heard that story in their old home. Their apartment in the Tower was so much nicer. She had more dolls and there weren’t bugs crawling around the floor. Daddy had said they couldn’t live there because of the ghosts, but Ellya didn’t care. She wasn’t scared of ghosts, why should he be?

The Story Lady was gone now. It must be late, even past Daddy’s bedtime. She wondered if Mum would sing to her tonight. She listened, hoping to catch a strain of lilted melody, whispered notes. Nothing. 

Swinging her legs over the side, she tiptoed out of her room. Daddy was slumped over on the sofa, asleep. Everyone else had gone. She thought of the other lady, the one that talked a lot and gave orders. She liked that lady. She acted like she was the boss. Ellya wanted to be like that someday. She would tell everyone what to do, and nobody would make her eat her vegetables or stay inside after sunset. 

The lady said she wanted to go to the Tower.

The Tower.

Ellya was overcome with an inexplicable urge, so strong it nearly knocked her over like a wave. It was calling her name. _Come to the Tower. Come tonight. Come soon._ Ellya felt a lurch in her gut. She wasn’t allowed out at night, even with a grown-up. Daddy hadn’t let her anywhere near the Tower since the Vanishing. 

But Daddy was fast asleep. 

She’d go to the Tower, find the Boss Lady and the Story Lady. The Boss Lady said she was going to help them. Help people like her and Daddy. Could she help Mum too?

She was at the door before she remembered she was forgetting something. Two things.

She rushed back into her bedroom and grabbed Teddy off the bed before sliding her feet into her slippers. She put the bear next to Daddy on the sofa.

“Look after Daddy for me,” she whispered. 

As quietly as she could, she moved the chair resting under the front doorknob. Bad people could come in, but she hoped tonight, they wouldn’t. Pulling the door open, she walked into the night.

—  
Rose glanced back at the ghost chasing them as she ran across the promenade. The white creature moved without sound, its silence a curse. It was gaining, gaining, moving too fast too soon. Her lungs burned for oxygen. She dreaded looking back again, expecting it to be at her heels, or worse, about to reach out and pull her into nothingness.

The Doctor was running backwards, trying to scan the ghost with the sonic, but Zeddia kept pulling her forward. “Can’t get what it is!” she exclaimed in frustration. 

“You’re getting too close!” he shouted back. “Just up ahead, to that door!” He pointed to a door at the other end of the promenade.

“If it’s a ghost, what good going through the door going to do?!” The Doctor asked in irritation. The ghost was still trailing them, passing through benches and fake plants. The white figure passed through each of them without resistance. 

“Trust me!” he shouted. Reaching the door, he opened a panel on the side. His hands shook as he took out a rectangular package, and threw it in the ghost’s direction. The promenade lit up with a blinding white light, causing Rose to shield her eyes. She could see the afterimage of the promenade on the back of her eyelids, the Doctor in silhouette. A moment later, the light had diminished to a low burn. There was no sign of the ghost. 

“Did you destroy it?” Rose asked. She leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath. 

“Maybe. We don’t know.” Zeddia said. “That was an emergency flare. We used to use them for work outside the tower complex, in case someone got stranded. Very little civilization outside Orchard. Some people think the light destroys them. Others think it just tricks them into thinking it’s day. All we know is it takes an extremely bright light to make them disappear. But we don’t have enough equipment and expertise to wire up the Tower. And we’re running out of flares.” He wiped his forehead on his sleeve. “There’s so little we can do.”

“Let’s think about what we do know.” the Doctor said. “They only come out at night. They’re mostly in the Tower. They take people. Any violence?”

Zeddia shook his head. “Not that we’ve seen.” 

“Do we know what they want?”

“Not a clue.”

The Doctor scanned the air again. “No changes in energy readings. So far, we don’t know what they are, we don’t know what they want, and we don’t know how to stop them. Zeddia, we’re going to need that data your people have collected.”

He looked reluctant. “It’s in one of the lower levels. But like I said, it’s impossible to get to.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” the Doctor said. “Lead the way.” 

Zeddia led them to a stairway, midway back down the promenade. Motion-activated lights on the baseboards switched on, barely illuminating the narrow concrete stairs. If a ghost reappeared, there’d be little space to run. Rose wasn’t sure what was worse: the threat of ghosts, or to descend in near-total darkness. 

—

Zeddia hadn’t been kidding about impossible.

He explained the area where the scientists had been working was formerly a meeting room, for AA meetings and scout troops and clubs. Nobody was having such meetings, especially not in the Tower, and the scientists had made it their base of operations. 

Now, it was a pit. Scorch marks decorated the walls as metal girders crisscrossed the room, the only remnant of the floor. Below, blackness. Only the edges of the flooring remained. Zeddia put a hand in front of them, cautioning them not to step further.

“The records of the research are over there. What’s left.” He pointed across the room. “They’d made some progress, taken some readings, but nothing close to an answer. Then, the explosion. It was a bad omen. Nobody wanted to continue after that.” He looked mournful. “They never even found all the bodies.”

The Doctor squatted down, peering below the girders. “Machine room downstairs? Let’s give this a try.” She activated the sonic, and the overhead lights switched on. “Much better!”

Now they could see below the girders, in which there was at least a substantial drop into a long, black cylinder that took up much of the floor. Across the room, a cluster of computers was huddled against the wall.

“Did the ghosts do this?” asked Rose.

He shook his head. “It was the Ones Left Behind. They opposed the research, saying the Vanishing was the will of God. I outlawed them the day after this happened, but it hasn’t stopped them. They’ve just gone into hiding. Committing vandalism, anonymous rants on the Trunk-that’s the social feed for the settlement. As I said, the ghosts aren’t destructive.”

Rose studied the girders. One led directly from where they were standing to the computers. The metal was singed but intact. The girders were at least a foot’s width thick. Excitement bubbled in her chest. “I could walk across the girder. Get the data.” She wanted to do it. More than that, she needed to. To prove to the Doctor, as much as herself, that she could be daring. Useful. Important. 

Zeddia lit up, but the Doctor shook her head, dashing her hopes. “Too dangerous. There’s at least a fifteen-meter fall into the machine room and lots of hot and pointy things. If you fell…” she trailed off.

“I won’t fall. I did gymnastics at school. I’m brilliant at the balance beam.” She left out the part where she hadn’t done so much as a cartwheel in a decade. It had to be like riding a bicycle. Once you knew how you always knew. The Doctor, however, didn’t look convinced. Rose thought quickly. “Are you going to be able to find out what’s behind the ghosts without that data?” 

The Doctor pursed her lips before settling into a begrudging nod. “All right then. But please, be careful.” 

“Thank you, thank you so much.” Zeddia clasped his hands together, beaming. “This means so much to us. To all of us.” He pulled a silver disc out of his coat pocket. “You can put all the data on here.” 

He placed the disc in her upturned hand, where it fit neatly in her palm. “What do I need to do?”

“See that bank of servers over there?” He pointed to a stack of six on a rack. “There’s a slot below the last one. The data should copy automatically.” He gave her a look of desperate hope. “Good luck.” 

“Thanks.” Tucking the disc in her back pocket, she looked over at the Doctor. The alien gave her an encouraging smile, but the pinched brow gave away her worry.

Facing the girder, Rose rubbed her hands together, took a deep breath, and stepped forward.

And came to a halt in an instant. Sweat trickled down her back. She regretted speaking up, especially after her eyes fell to the machine room below. The beam at school hadn’t been above a machine room, a potential hot, painful end. She couldn’t let Zeddia down. She could feel the Doctor’s eyes on her. She didn’t want to chicken out. 

She could do this. She had to do this. 

The words of Ms. Chang, her gymnastics coach/Year Five teacher, came back to her. _One foot in front of the other, until you get to the end_. With that, she was able to unplant her feet from the girder, careful not to look down. The further she went, the greater her confidence. Lessons from the beam came back to her. Back straight. Knees bent. Hips square. When she got to the other side, she stepped onto the floor with ease.

“Great job!” The Doctor waved from the other end, jumping up and down. Flooded with joy, Rose gave a quick wave back before examining the computers. Getting praised by the Doctor was becoming a habit and an addictive one at that.

She found the slot Zeddia mentioned, and slid in the disc. At first, nothing happened, until she pressed the large green button in the front. The computer booted up with a quick whir, and a message appeared “Copying. Please wait.” Rose drummed her fingers along the terminal. Under a thick layer of dust was sleek, black metal. It wasn’t too different from computers back home. 

The data transfer was finished in less than five minutes, popping out the silver disc. Rose was on top of the world. Traveling to alien planets, outrunning robots, traversing blown-out buildings. She could do it all.

Returning the disc to her pocket, Rose practically sauntered down the girder. She was half tempted to do a handspring, but the Doctor’s gaze was still glued to her, fists clenched in tension. Best not to make her worry more, even though this was easy, too easy.

Then she felt a presence, something she couldn’t describe, a coldness, and she froze. Hairs stood up on the back of her neck as her heart thumped against her ribs. Nobody else was here. Nothing was behind her except computers and a ruined floor. The Doctor said ghosts weren’t real. It was nothing, a cool breeze. 

Except the building, like the rest of Estragon, had been hot as hell.

It would be all right. She was halfway across the girder. Just a few more meters and she’d be on solid ground again. She took another step, and her foot slipped off the beam. Her foot wobbled wildly in the air as she tried not to panic. 

“Rose!” The Doctor cried. She ran towards the girder but collapsed to the ground, clutching her head. Another one of her headaches. Why did it have to be now? Everything was spinning out of control. Rose willed her foot to touch metal, as her arms flailed. She was way off balance, and nothing she remembered to do-bending her knees, narrowing her body-was working. _The Doctor will save me. She’ll find a way. She always does._

But the Doctor wasn’t moving. She was sprawled on the floor, fingers pressed against her temples. Rose’s mouth went dry as her heart threatened to explode out of her.

A white pinpoint light appeared in front of her, diffusing outward, until the ghost appeared in front of her, fully formed. In slow-motion, she felt herself about to fall, descend into the hot metal below as she heard the Doctor scream from the platform…

…until the ghost grabbed her hand.

She was being pulled through something, the air squeezed out of her lungs as every part of her went rigid. She fought for an inch of control, to move, anything.

Until she was thrown into endless grey.

—  
The Doctor’s temples throbbed with a sharp, stabbing pain as she laid on the floor. 

For once, she didn’t want to move.  
She needed to move.  
She needed to find out what happened to Rose.  
She needed to make sure it never happened again to anyone. 

She’d screamed the ghost snatched her friend from existence. Guilt and self-loathing coursed through her. Another human she’d gotten killed. Pall said the people touched by the ghosts became ghosts themselves. She didn’t need Rose to be a ghost to be haunted by her. 

This kept happening. She needed to stop caring so much. Then it wouldn’t hurt so badly when her friends were Cyber-converted, or stuck in the past, or stolen by ghosts. 

Who was she kidding? She wouldn’t be the Doctor if she didn’t care.

Enough self-pity. The throbbing in her head eased, though not disappeared. Time to get to work.

Gingerly, she stood up. Zeddia stood back, in a corner, looking guilty. He mumbled apologies, and the Doctor knew he meant them, but at the moment, she didn’t care. 

She turned back at the girder, unaffected by the ghosts’ appearance. Nothing left behind. She waved the sonic in its direction, not trusting herself to walk on the girder in her current state. Nothing. 

No answers. No clues. No options. 

“Let’s get out of this room,” she told Zeddia. She didn’t want to look at this place for another moment. 

He nodded, and there was a ping from his pocket. He pulled out his commpanel. “Security alert for the Tower.” His face fell. “There’s a child outside.”

The Doctor grabbed the panel from his hands. Ellya was standing outside the front doors in her nightgown, peering up at the tower. “It’s Pall’s daughter. Let’s get her right away.” Jaw set, she clenched her fists, willing the pain in her head to cease. She would not lose another bloody person tonight.


	8. The Haunted Tower (III)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When we last left our heroes, Rose was about to fall off a girder when she was taken by one of the ghosts inhabiting Orchard Tower. Where has she gone, and can the Doctor save her?

“Steady now, easy does it.”

A voice, commanding but compassionate piercing the grey fog. Rose blinked. She felt pressure on her side, and everything came into focus.

In front of her was a woman, about her height, with dark skin and close-cropped, natural hair. Behind the round glasses perched at the end of her nose were deep brown eyes, filled with sympathy. The lines on her cheeks betrayed sorrow beyond their years. Her bright green dress hung to just below her knees.

“The transition is always rough,” the woman told her. “You’ll be fine in a few minutes. Well, less disoriented at least.”

Rose glanced around her surroundings. She was in the meeting room in the tower, a replica of the one she left, except the floor beneath her was undamaged, a solid sheet of laminated tile. She took an experimental step. Solid. Frantic, she ran towards the Doctor and Zeddia. The Doctor was still on the floor, clutching her head.

“Doctor!” she cried. “I’m here!” But the other woman didn’t react. She put a hand out to touch her, but her hand went right through. Rose drew her hand back in fright. She nearly jumped as she turned around. 

“She can’t hear you. I’m sorry,” said the woman in green. “You’re with us now. See how grey she is?”

The Doctor looked washed out like a faded photograph, as did Zeddia. Rose noticed now another woman in the room, a petite brunette, in full color, standing a few feet away. Left behind. She didn’t understand anything that was happening. “How did you get the floor back?”

“It wasn’t destroyed. Not on this side. I’m sorry I brought you through, but you were going to fall if I didn’t.” the woman in front of her said, “I’m Jeanette, by the way.”

“Rose,” she replied. Jeanette had been the “ghost” then. The one that grabbed her hand. She looked at her arms. Still flesh. If they were on the other side…” Are we…?” she couldn’t bring herself to finish. 

“We don’t know.” Jeanette gave a resigned shrug. “Not for sure. We don’t think so. We still eat, sleep. Though I’m not doing so much these days.”

“A lot of us sleep during the day and stay up at night,” the brunette said. “We don’t know why they can’t see us during the day. We’ve been trying to find a way to break through, but to no avail.”

Realization dawned on her. “When you’re running after people-you’re trying to make them understand.”

“We try not to touch them anymore. After we saw what happened. But some of us get desperate. They miss their family, their lovers. They want us all to be together. It’s been a point of contention. And if they can’t have that, they try for a glimpse. But they know now to run away.” Jeanette sighed.

Rose thought for a moment. “I touched the Doctor-or I tried to-and I went right through her. She doesn’t even see me.”

“You’re invisible now to her. Only if you concentrate, focus on the other side, will you appear as a ghost,” Jeanette said. “Don’t know of any way of getting through to them. I’ve been trying to come at the problem from both sides.”

“You’re one of the scientists that were studying the Vanishing,” Rose said. No wonder they hadn’t found all the bodies in the explosion. They’d been brought here. 

Jeanette nodded. “I’m a geologist by trade. Before the Vanishing, I studied volcanoes. This was way beyond my expertise, but they were grasping at straws. And I wanted to help. I lost a lot of my colleagues.” She waved her arms around. “This place is a perfect replica of Orchard, of Estragon, everything. But we’re separate. The only people we can interact with are the ones that vanished. The rest can only see us as ghosts. And there’s no way to go back. We’re stuck.”

The last word rang in her ears. She couldn’t be stuck. “I have to get back. I just came to this planet for a visit, I can’t be here,” she pleaded. “I need to get back to the Doctor.” She glanced back at the Doctor, now picking herself up. “Or at least get through to her somehow. She was trying to find out what you were.” 

“I’m sorry. ” Jeanette looked grave, but Rose noticed a twitch in the other woman’s lips, the one who so far been silent. 

Rose addressed her. "Do you know something?"

The other woman looked to Jeanette, who gave her a look of resignation. She said to Rose, “There might be a way. To talk to her. My daughter can hear me.”

"We don't know that for sure," Jeanette quickly added. 

“She hears me. I see the smile on her face when I sing.”

Rose noticed the woman’s features, the long narrow nose, and the square chin. An older version of Ellya. “You’re Tarayse, aren’t you?”

“I am!” She beamed. “Does she hear me?”

“Yeah,” Elly. “She can hear you. Does she have to be asleep?” That was bad news. The Doctor mentioned she didn’t sleep much, and what if she left this planet first?

“I’ve tried talking to her a bunch of times when she was awake. It never worked.”

It was a sliver of hope. But a vast improvement over being stuck. “How do you do it?”

“You need to be close. As close as you can get without touching. You need to do what Jeanette said, focus on the other side. Especially the person you want to reach.” Tarayse said. “Put all your energy into it. And that works. Sometimes.” 

“Then that’s what I need to do.” It was then she noticed the Doctor, head hung, was leaving the room with Zeddia. “Come on. We need to follow them.”

Jeanette grabbed Rose’s arm. “She won’t recognize you. She will run. And if she doesn’t, one false move and she’ll be here with us.”

“It’ll work. The Doctor’s really good at figuring these things out.” She didn’t want to admit, least of all to herself, this was her only chance to get back into the world she’d left. 

Jeanette pursed her lips. “This Doctor…do you really think she’s more brilliant than all of us put together?”

Rose nodded. “Yeah, I do.” 

She fled up the stairs, not waiting for a response from either woman. _I’m here Doctor. Find me. Please, find me._

—

Zeddia opened the tower front doors to find Ellya on the front steps, unharmed and tapping her foot. “Little girl, what’re you doing out?” he asked. 

Ignoring him, she gave the Doctor an accusing gaze. “You left without me.”

“This is for grown-ups. Where’s your dad? He must be worried sick about you.” The Doctor’s eyes darted around. They were on a grand concrete landing in front of the main doors. The sky was just beginning to lighten, the first hint of dawn. No sign of more ghosts. Yet. 

“He’s sleeping. Can we go find Mum now?” she asked.

“The only place you’re going is home. Come on, let’s get you back before Pall realizes what happened.” She went to take Ellya’s hand, but the girl wouldn’t budge.

Just then, the Doctor heard a crack and felt a cold breeze. Her blood ran cold as she whirled around to find a ghost forming, a few feet away. No, no, no. Not another one. 

“Run!” She put herself between the humans and the ghost. “Run, all of you! I’ll stop it!” She fumbled in her pocket for the sonic. Did she have a warning flare setting on this one? She might. She'd get one as soon as she left Estragon. Meanwhile, the ghost hung there, not moving, but watching. She didn’t trust it. Not for a minute. 

She felt a tug at her jacket.Ellya hadn’t moved. “No.”

“Ellya, please, you have to go, go very fast, before the ghost comes after us.” It was a miracle the ghost hadn’t zapped them already. The Doctor was about to pick her up, when the little girl pointed to the apparition in front of them. 

“No. She needs help,” she said. “That’s the Story Lady.”

The Doctor froze. “What’s the Story Lady?”

“She came with you. She told me the story about Red Riding Hood,” Ellya said. “It’s okay, Story Lady.”

The Doctor studied the ghost, still hovering, but otherwise unmoving. Its features were blank, formless, the general shape of a head, torso, and limbs. No sign of who it was or what it had been. She was almost afraid to hope. “Rose?” No response.

“Doctor!” Zeddia called from the bottom of the steps. He’d obediently run away and now was anxiously watching. “You need to get the girl and get away from there!”

“Not yet.” It could be. It had to be. Children saw things adults didn’t, because they weren’t confined by the restraints of reality. The ghosts couldn’t talk. If they could, the Orchardians would have found a way to do it a long time ago. There had to be another way of telling what she was. What it was, she corrected herself. A quick wave of the sonic showed a mass of electromagnetic noise. And traces of artron energy.

Which could only be acquired with exposure to time travel. 

“Rose!” She broke into a smile, jumping up and down. If she could get a lock on the artron energy, there was a chance of bringing her back. However she existed now. “Stay right there. I’m going to try a few things with the sonic.”

—

Rose didn’t know what was happening. The Doctor had become ecstatic, then started pointing the sonic at her, changing something, and then sonicing again. 

“What’s she doing?” Jeanette studied the Doctor. They’d agreed Rose would be the only one who tried to become visible, as one ghost was less intimidating than three. There were others in the lobby now, and they’d gathered around the steps, watching with curiosity. Jeanette had ordered them to stay invisible to the other side, but they were growing restless. “Looks like she keeps doing the same thing. You ever hear the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?”

“Just give her a chance. She’ll get it,” Rose said. On the “other side”

“Not much time left. Sun will be up soon.” Tarayse had been focused on Ellya, talking to her softly even though her daughter showed no reaction. “What will you do then?”

Before Rose could answer, everything went grey and she was being squeezed again. In an instant, she was back in front of the Doctor and Ellya. In full, vibrant, color. She was back in the world. She was safe. 

“Doctor!” Rose ran towards the Doctor to hug her, but she stiffened and drew back. For a moment, Rose thought she was in trouble, but the look of relief told her otherwise.

“Sorry. Not a hugger. At least I don’t think I am,” the Doctor said. “What happened? Are you all right?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay. I was here. It was just different,” Rose said. She explained everything that happened. Ellya squealed at the mention of her mum as the Doctor listened thoughtfully. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Zeddia had come towards them to listen but was practically cowering behind the Doctor. He wouldn’t look her in the eye. Too spooked, she supposed. 

“Ellya heard her mum in her sleep. Why didn’t you mention that?” the Doctor asked.

“I thought it was a dream.” Rose shrugged. “It didn’t seem important.”

“Everything is important. Especially dreams.” The Doctor kneeled in front of Ellya. “Of course, genetic and emotional connection to your mum. She came to you a lot of times, probably every night. What mother wouldn’t? That made you tuned to see the ghosts for who they really were. Which is, not ghosts.”

“What are they then?” Zeddia asked. “What happened to them?”

The Doctor popped back on her feet. “They’re human. Regular, ordinary humans. But they’re in a different time stream. Same physical space, different streams. The Vanishing must have been caused by a time fault erupting. And with a time fault come aftershocks. Place where the stream is weak, the space between the time stream is thinned, and that’s what caused the ghosts to be able to be seen.” 

Zeddia snorted. “Are you just putting ‘time’ in front of things to make them sound more impressive?”

“Why, are you impressed?” she asked dismissively. She turned to Rose. “We need to get back to the TARDIS. Do you still have that disc with the data? We can use that, along with the temporal torsades to bring the time streams together.”

—

Rose stood with the Doctor on the Orchard Promenade, occasionally being jostled by the crowds. It took another day and night of steady work, but the Doctor successfully merged the time streams. With some help from Rose. She’d explained as they went, the idea of weaving the two time streams together. It seemed like everyone in Orchard was there, looking for their loved ones who’d come back from the merged time stream. Zeddia had tried to organize a reunion plan and committee, but once the Vanished re-materialized, all order went out the window. She caught sight of a surprisingly ebullient Pall holding Ellya’s hand as scanned the crowds for his wife. He looked a decade younger than when she'd seem him last. 

“It’s going to take some time to sort everything out.” The Doctor shouted to her. “But Orchard will be fine. They’ve got their people back.”

A stout man with thinning grey hair approached them. “Hello, Doctor!” he exclaimed. “Ash Layfield, head of Orchard. I just wanted to say thank you, thank you so much for what you’ve done! Spent so much time in the other stream, thought I’d never see my kids again!”

“Glad to be of help,” the Doctor responded with rehearsed grace. The Orchardians had been coming by to give them thanks and offer them money and gifts, all of which the Doctor refused. 

“Can’t believe you’re here. I’ve heard the stories. The Battle of Demon’s Run, the fall of Arcadia…was that really you?”

“Well, you know, Doctor’s a very common name.” She nudged Rose, shouting in her ear. “We should go.” 

Rose nodded, registering the conversation as she kept her eyes on Pall. His eyes lit up, and he waved frantically as he caught sight of Tarayse. “After fighting through the crowds, he and Ellya swept her in a massive embrace, laughing and crying and shouting, a family reunited. She gave them a farewell wave as they made their way to the exit doors.

After the deafening crowd of the Promenade, the quiet outside Orchard Tower was almost eerie. “Still don’t know what caused the time fault,” the Doctor remarked. “Or why it went off. Don’t remember hearing about it in Orchard’s history.”

“Guess we came at the right time.” Rose grinned. 

“Is that supposed to be a pun? A joke?”

“Yeah.” 

“You don’t get to do the time jokes. Only I do the time jokes,” the Doctor teased.

“Why not? I’m a proper time traveler now.” They’d arrived in front of the TARDIS, still outside the soon-to-be-abandoned huts. “Seriously though, thank you for saving me. Again.”

“Sure. But don’t get in a habit of going off to other planes of existence.” The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS doors, which creaked open. “After you.”

Inside, Rose immediately headed to the console room wall and leaned against it, a rare relaxing moment in the past two days. But mentally, she was focused on the Doctor, who was already poised over the console. She’d been reluctant to talk about herself. Demon’s Run? Arcadia? Ash had heard of her. She must be known across galaxies, but she didn’t want to be. What was her story?

The Doctor looked up at her, eyes gleaming with excitement. From looking at her, no one would guess, she’d spent the last forty hours working on the temporal torsades. “Where to next? Binary symbiotic pulsar? Tea with Isaac Newton?”

She gave the Doctor a wicked grin. “Surprise me.” Their next stop might have some clues. She wanted to know everything about the Doctor. The answers would turn up, if she kept looking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: The Hub of War


	9. The Hub of War (I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On an unexpected trip to interwar America, the Doctor is reunited with an old friend, and Rose finds herself in a sticky situation. Meanwhile, bodies are popping up with the blood sucked out of them. Are vampires lurking the streets of Boston, or is it something else?

Rose was having that dream again. 

She’s in the tunnel, as always. The writing on the walls is glowing in an even pulse of yellow. 

The tunnel fills with a mist. Within seconds, she can barely make out the writing. The damp collects in her throat and coats her arms with a fine sheen. It’s some kind of poison. Pain spreads through her, wrenching hot searing pain, she doesn’t know how much more she can take.

Until a figure appears in the mist. At first, she can only make out a general shape, but as the figure comes closer, Rose can make out her features.

It’s the Doctor.

Relief floods her, despite her screaming nerve endings. She’s never been so glad to see anyone. The Doctor would never let anything bad happen to her. The Doctor will save her. A gentle wave of the Doctor’s hand and the pain disappears. The Doctor takes her hands and Rose is filled with warmth-it’s everything she’s ever needed. The Doctor gives her an odd look, a hint of a smile, but she looks more perplexed than anything 

Then the white room shatters, and the Doctor is being blown backwards. Rose holds onto her so tightly her fingers turn white. She’s still in place-whatever force that’s acting on the Doctor leaves her alone. She feels the Doctor’s hands slipping from hers, and grits her teeth in determination. She can’t lose the Doctor, won’t lose her, won’t let go of her. If she does nothing else, she has to do this. But her fingers numb, and the Doctor gives her a plaintive smile and a single word, _Sorry_ before she gets sucked backwards, into darkness. Rose runs towards the black, screaming as she falls…

—

Rose sat up in bed, sweat pouring down her forehead. Her breath slowed as she came back to reality. She was in her room on the TARDIS, and she’d had that bad dream again. That was all. 

Except this time the Doctor was in her dream. That was new. 

She thought of what the Doctor had said to Ellya when they were on Estragon a few weeks ago: _Everything is important. Especially dreams._ But this dream didn’t mean anything. She’d been having it for years, long before she even met the Doctor. Mickey had had dreams where he got to work and realized he wasn’t wearing trousers. Some odd quirk of her brain. 

Still, a part of her wanted to check on the Doctor, as irrational as it sounded. Throwing on a dressing gown, she headed down the corridor, hastily tying the knot of her gown. She planned to check the console room, but then she felt a mental tug, a twinge, pulling her towards the door that led to the engine room. “She’s in there?” she called. Lights flashed surrounding the door. Rose had learned in the first days the TARDIS would give her telepathic guidance, which came in handy when the rooms got shifted around and she needed to find the loo. 

Sure enough, she found the Doctor just inside the door, perfectly fine. She was in a welding helmet and apron, humming to herself as she welded a metal rod to something she couldn’t identify. She felt stupid. Of course, the Doctor was fine. She’d assured Rose in the very beginning, nothing could get through the TARDIS doors. She was about to leave when the Doctor caught sight of her, and put down her welding torch, and flipped open her helmet. “Good morning!” she exclaimed. “Think it’s morning. I lose track. Anything you need?”

Rose shook her head. “Just came to say hi.” 

“Hi,” she gave Rose a little wave, before gesturing to the torch. “Paneling was loose.” 

“She falls apart a lot.” More often than not, she found the Doctor fixing something on the ship.

The Doctor scrunched her nose. “Oi, she’s an old ship. She needs a lot of love.” She patted the panel as if giving the TARDIS reassurance. She did that a lot too. “She’s a good ship.”

“She is,” Rose said. She’s grown to have her own affection for the TARDIS. But the Doctor’s love for her ship might be a clue into finding out more about her. She loved talking about the worlds they saw, but she was always sidestepping questions about herself, no matter how many times she asked. “How long have you had her?” 

“Long enough to void the warranty in every way possible,” the Doctor said.

Rose felt a touch of annoyance. Not that she'd expected her question to work. 

“I’ll be done in a few minutes," the Doctor continued. "Still planning to go home today?”

Her spirits were dampened at the mention of home. She should stop in, see Mum. She should have done it days ago. She’d already been gone longer than she planned, but she wasn’t ready to leave the TARDIS either. “Well…I was thinking. Maybe one more trip?”

The Doctor brightened. “One more trip, Rose Tyler. I’ll meet you for breakfast in ten.”

“I should get dressed and all that anyway,” Rose said, heading back down the corridor to her room. The crystal walls glowed, light intensifying with her steps as if to guide her. She’d found it odd her first few days on the ship, but now it was a regular part of her day. If you could call traveling through time and space in an extradimensional box regular.

Over the past few weeks, she and the Doctor had settled into a comfortable rhythm. She’d get up, the Doctor would ask her where she wanted to go, and she’d pick something. It had been fun. Amazing. They’d gone to the top of a planet’s highest mountain, miles in the air, and watched the suns rise into a pink-orange glow. A harvest festival, where dozens of species mingled together. A planet made entirely of crystal-they’d both fallen a lot on that one, but it had been gorgeous. Never, in her wildest imagination, could she have expected something like this. It was like every fairy tale she’d ever read, wrapped into one.

Once she got home and saw Mum, she’d make an excuse to leave again. A work conference-she’d never been to a conference before, didn’t rank highly enough to go to a conference, but Mum didn’t need to know that. Or maybe she got a new job, a nanny job in Europe, like her mate Jocelyn. She’d come up with something. 

—  
“Want to meet Barack Obama?” The Doctor leaned forward with a conspiratorial grin. Having finished breakfast, they were in the console room. 

“Hmmm….has potential.” Rose tried to sound casual. She didn’t follow American politics that closely, but he’d just started in office a few months ago, and even Brits were talking about him like a rock star. If nothing else, he had to be an improvement over the last president. “So we’re off to the White House then?”

“Not quite," The Doctor said. “Never meet a president while they’re in office. Too busy. You only get to see them while they’re on their way to another meeting. It’s no fun.“ 

“You just can’t get past security,” Rose teased. 

“I can get past any security! But last time I visited the Obama White House, he was booked all day. The First Lady was out of town, and I had to talk to Bo instead.”

“But Bo’s the dog.”

“I speak fluent dog. By the way, Bo has surprisingly astute observations on Middle East foreign policy.”

Rose shrugged. The Doctor had to be putting her on about half the things she said. “So where are we going instead?” 

"1989. The future president is in his first year at Harvard Law School, just getting an inkling about a career in politics. Snazzy dresser and a mean poker player.” She looked at Rose from behind the central crystal. “Also, there’s a pastry shop nearby that has the best cannoli. Love a good cannoli.” 

“Doctor, you just ate a handful of custard creams.” Rose wrinkled her nose in disgust. ”How can you think about more sweets?” 

The Doctor stuck her chin in the air. “I have a highly refined palate.”

“That’s not what refined sugar means.” Rose stuck out her tongue. It was a childish gesture, but she wasn’t the one who ate biscuits for breakfast. 

“Tell that to the Kangdrascoll. They can’t get enough sugar.” The Doctor leaned over the console, studying the controls and readings. Rose always found it cute the way she scrunched her features in concentration. She pulled the console lever, and the TARDIS engines came to life. “America, here we come!” 

Rose loved this part. The floor rumbled under her feet as the groans of the engines reverberated through the console room. She grabbed onto a pillar-she’d leaned early on the TARDIS could suddenly sway or jerk, sending her flying across the console room. Watching the Doctor, still bent over the controls. Wonder and excitement and nervousness competed for attention within her. What awaited them this time? Nerves settled in her stomach as the engine groans faded. 

“Here we are, Cambridge, Massachusetts, America, 1989!” the Doctor announced with a flourish. “And it’s January. You’ll want a coat.” 

After grabbing her down parka from the coat hook, Rose headed to the TARDIS doors, not noticing the Doctor furrow her brow in confusion. What was on the other side wasn’t what she was expecting at all.

The TARDIS was parked in front of a busy street. Traffic was a mix of horse-drawn carriages and cars she’d only seen in old movies. Men passed by in monochrome, black overcoats and white hats. Signs outside the storefronts in large letters advertised Victrolas and cigarettes.

She heard the click of the TARDIS doors locking, and the Doctor was at her side. “Slight miscalculation. This isn’t 1989. It’s 1919. Tuesday, to be precise.” She stepped outside, taking a look at the surrounding park. Bare-limbed trees lined the paths. Further ahead, towards the street, stood the twin headhouses for the subway. “This is Boston Common. At least we’re in the right place. Sort of.”

Rose slowly shook her head in mock indignation. They ended up in the wrong place or time more often than not. “I need to find a more competent time traveler.” 

“Yes, but would they be as much fun?” The Doctor spun in a slow circle. “Ooooh, I wonder if they have the ice skating rink set up. Love ice skating.”

Before Rose could answer, they heard a high pitched shriek ringing through the air. The Doctor took off in the general direction, towards the white church on the corner. Rose followed, struggling to keep up. The air was biting cold, and her muscles were slow to respond. 

Outside the church, they found a small crowd, standing around a black tarp on the back of an open-air wagon. Half the tarp was opened, revealing what had been a middle-aged man. Rose stepped back, in shock. 

The Doctor pushed past, pulling out her sonic. “Anyone know who he is?” she asked as she scanned the corpse. The crowd shook their heads. “Or how he got here?”

“Don’t know how this happened,” A beefy man bellowed. A panic-stricken woman stood next to him, in mute shock. “We were deliverin’ firewood to the church, and we found this big parcel, and there he was. Why would someone put a corpse on our wagon?” 

“Maybe he’d been killed, and someone wanted to hide the body?” Rose volunteered. She willed herself to look at the corpse. No gunshot wounds or stab sounds, at least not that she could see.

“Highly possible.” She studied the readings on the sonic. “Hmmm. That’s unusual. Had all the blood drained out of him. Every last drop.”

“Don’t tell me vampires exist,” Rose groaned. Vampires were creepy. The librarians could barely keep _Twilight_ on the shelves, but she’d never been able to read more than a few chapters.

“Sort of. There are a few species out there that drink blood.” The man’s bowler hat fell off as she turned the body to the side. “No marks. We might be dealing with a Plasmavore.”

The crowd began to disperse as plans were among the bystanders made to call the coroner and police. Walking back towards the Common, the Doctor nudged Rose. “We need to find who or what did this.”

Rose nodded. Finding the culprit was a given. “Vampire hunting in 1919. Do you have any wooden stakes on hand?”

“No weapons!” the Doctor chastised her. “We look around. Ask questions. Find out if there’s been any other strange deaths, or weird things happening. And keep a lookout for anyone holding a straw.”

—  
Rose felt her toes going numb as they walked through town. She didn’t know how the merchants standing outside their shops put up with it for long hours. The Doctor, as usual, was unaffected by the weather, and eagerly chatting with a grocer. They’d already talked to a mortician, who’d confirmed three more deaths like the one at the church. Her gaze fell on a faded, torn banner for an Armistice Day dance. It was strange to think World War I would have ended just two months ago. There was certainly seen none of the destruction here they’d had at home. 

She was broken out of her thoughts by a slight woman approaching her. “Excuse me, miss?” she said hesitantly. She looked rigid with tension, and her coat had seen better days. “You and your friend were asking about anything unusual happening?” 

“Yeah,” she said. “What did you see?”

She leaned forward, speaking in a whisper. “Last night, I was chased by demons.”

This was promising. Rose waved the Doctor over. “What’s your name?”

“Alice DiNolo. Mrs. Gregory DiNolo. He was killed in the war.” Her lips drooped.

Rose gave her a sympathetic look. “Tell us everything you can.”

Mrs. DiNolo relaxed, but only slightly. “I was on my way home last night. I heard heavy steps behind me, turned around, and there they were! Two demons, dark green skin, covered in scales, like giant lizards. They would have gotten me, had I not thrown Mr. Cabot’s pants at him!”

“Thank goodness for Mr. Cabot’s pants!” The Doctor exclaimed. “Though I have to ask, what were you doing with them?”

“I get them every Monday. I’m his washerwoman,” she explained. 

The Doctor nodded. “The demons…did they talk? Anything else you remember about them?”

“Didn’t say anything. Big white eyes, though.”

“And where did you see them?” asked Rose.

“It was near the harbor,” Mrs. DiNolo said. She leaned against a sugar barrel. “Sorry. Feelin’ a bit woozy for the past day or two.”

“Thank you Mrs. DiNolo, that was very helpful. Get some rest. Doctor’s orders.” The Doctor turned to Rose. “Doesn’t sound like a Plasmavore. Let’s head to the harbor, see if we can find our demons.”

—

The sky was almost completely dark by the time they reached the harbor. In the fading light, they could see the ships parked at the piers, stretching down the coastline. A cargo ship was being unpacked, large wooden crates being carried down by steady-handed dock workers. The scent of the sea, salt and raw, filled the air. The docks were a flurry of activity, laborers, merchants, and sailors, moving in every direction. Lanterns lined the piers, giving the docks a gentle glow.

“Is that a battleship?” Rose pointed to a cruiser in the distance. “What’s it doing there?”

“That’s the Naval Shipyard.” The Doctor said. “Built and repaired dozens of ships during the War. Feels different, learning about history when it’s happening around you, yeah?”

“It does,” she agreed. “These demons, how will we find them?” There was such a mass of people, there could be ten demons in the crowd and they’d never be spotted.

“Haven’t the foggiest. Maybe we could-wait.” She cocked her head. “Havin’ an odd feeling.”

“Another headache?” 

“No, this is different. Something I haven’t…ohhhhh!!” She jogged down the pier, approaching a brigantine docked at the end. She scanned the sonic over the bow. “Thought that was a chameleon circuit.”

Rose ran to catch up with her. “Is it the demons?” 

“No, it’s not related.” The Doctor bubbled with excitement as she gave the mooring rope an experimental tug. “I hope not, anyway. But why here? And now?” She closed her eyes and put her hands to her temples. 

Rose watched her in confusion. “What are you doing?”

“Shhhhh. Contact.” She hissed sharply. Rose watched her, waiting for what felt like ages as dockworkers and sailors passed by. The Doctor stood, unmoving, fingers light on her temples, in concentration. Without warning, she broke out into a grin.

A handsome woman strutted down the brigantine's gangplank, the mischievous smirk on her face suiting her as much as the olive trousers that hugged her hips. Rich black curls flowed past her shoulders.

“Doctor!” she exclaimed. “Should have known you’d come knocking at my door.” 

“Corsair!” The Doctor waved.

Breaking out into a full smile, the Corsair ran towards them, sweeping up the Doctor into a giant hug, nearly knocking Rose over in the process. Pulling back, she gave the Doctor a once-over, holding her by the shoulders. “Oh, I like this regeneration. It’s a good look for you.” 

“You’re not so bad yourself.” The Doctor looked down, her expression looking more embarrassed. Was there a slight blush to her cheeks? Rose felt a twist in her gut, for reasons she couldn’t name. There was something about the Corsair that set her nerves on edge. 

“Always bumming around Earth,” The Corsair shook her head. “When did I see you last? The bank vault?”

The Doctor’s smile faded. “Must’ve been.” There was a hint of sadness in her eyes.

“You’re not still mad I left you in there, are you?” the Corsair raised an eyebrow. “I had to dash, it was very important—” 

“Yes, I know. Running off with the vault’s contents was of utmost priority.” The Doctor had her hands on her hips, but she sounded more amused.  
The Corsair laughed, tipping her head back. 

Rose gave the Doctor a pointed look. “You have friends who rob banks?”

The Corsair gave her a scrutinizing glance before asking the Doctor, “This your human?”

“Friend.” The Doctor rolled her eyes. “This is Rose. Rose, this is The Corsair.”

“Hello.” Rose extended her hand, in a gesture of friendliness. The Corsair barely shook it, as if she couldn’t be bothered. 

“Don’t mind us, we go way way back if there is such a thing where Time Lords are concerned.” The Corsair threw an arm around the Doctor’s shoulder. “This one, constantly getting me into trouble at the Academy.” Time Lords? Is that what the Doctor was?

“Oi! I never got sent to the headmaster’s office before I met you.” The Doctor laughed. 

“Neither did I…because I knew not to get caught!” The Corsair flashed a wicked grin. 

“You were such a bad boy.” 

“Still am,” The Corsair licked her lips, putting a finger on the Doctor’s chest. “And you like it.” 

Rose shivered uncomfortably. The Corsair had shown up for two minutes and the Doctor forgot she existed. The rational part of her, _cut her some slack, she’s found an old friend_ , but that did nothing to tamp down the bile in her throat. 

“Come on, let’s go to the pub. Bring your human.” The Corsair gestured towards a row of buildings off the wharf. “We have a lot of catching up to do!”

The Doctor started after her, but Rose tugged on her jacket arm. “What about the vampire demon things? Shouldn’t we be out looking for them?” She had no desire to spend time with the pirate woman.

“We will. Besides, the Corsair might have a lead. She hangs out with a lot of sordid types.” With that, the Doctor started off again. Rose had no choice but to trail after the two Time Lords.

—  
After several hours and multiple pubs, Rose was certain of two things:

1\. American beer was rubbish.  
2\. The Corsair was obnoxious.

The Corsair had dragged them all over downtown Boston. They’d have a drink or two before declaring the other pubgoers a bore and dragging them to another pub. In between, she’d punched a few people, threatened a barmaid about their drinks being watered down, and barely acknowledged Rose existed. Instead, she turned all of her attention to the Doctor, who was eating it up. Rose enjoyed a good bar crawl every now and then, but not when she was the third wheel. Between the noise and the aliens involved, she only caught half of what they were saying. 

Their current establishment was heavy with the scent of smoke and stale beer. Judging by the stickiness of the floor, cleaning wasn’t on management’s list of priorities. This bothered neither the Corsair nor the other patrons, who were too drunk or raucous to care.

“Remember that time you replaced the portrait of Rassilon with a tafelshrew?” The Doctor’s hands fluttered through the air as she spoke. She sat to Rose’s right, across from the Corsair. “In front of the whole Assembly! The look on his face! I’ll never forget it!” 

The Corsair leaned back, roaring with laughter. “Tell you the truth, I’m surprised anyone noticed the difference!”

The Doctor slammed her arm on the table, laughing. Rose didn’t get the joke, but she was fuming. She’d tried to cut into the conversation several times, only for the Doctor to nod, then turn right back to the Corsair. 

“What’re you doin’ here, anyway?” asked the Doctor, slurring. Rose had never seen her drink before. Was she drunk?

“Prohibition, Doctor!” The Corsair flashed another wicked smile. “Two days from now, these humans,” she gestured around her, “are going to ban alcohol from their pathetic little corner of the Earth.”

“Sounds like you won’t have anything to do then,” Rose remarked. It was petty, but she couldn’t resist.

The Corsair shook her head. “Do you have any idea what this country was like? Things will go crazy. All these men, drinking themselves into a stupor for the next year. And then, it all goes underground. Speakeasies. Bathtub gin! It’s going to be wild! Doctor, stick around a bit. It’ll be fun, like the old days.” 

“You know me. Don’t like to stay in one place too long.” The Doctor tried to sound noncommittal, but there was a warmth to her tone that suggested she liked the idea.

“We’re the only ones out here. We should stick together.” The Corsair put her hand over the Doctor’s, which was resting on the table, and the Doctor gave her a gentle smile.

Rose was furious. She wasn’t seriously considering staying here, was she?! If she was, Rose wouldn’t be. She was losing patience, in this stupid bar with the Doctor’s stupid friend in this stupid town that claimed to be an actual city, in this stupid year. 

Rose threw back her beer, choking it down before slamming the glass on the table, and poured another from the half-full pitcher. She felt the room take on a warm haze, the sharp edges of her anger blurring. Maybe this watered-down piss was good for something after all. She surveyed her surroundings. Men in grubby overalls and worn coats crowded the bar, the after-work crowd. She caught the eye of a man who was staring at them, hungry eyes devouring her form. She knew the type-entitled, brimming with unearned confidence, and only after one thing. He was disgusting. He was perfect.

He took her glance as an invitation and swaggered over to the table. “How’re you ladies doing this evening?” He reeked of cologne, and his hair was an oil slick. What if she grabbed the bloke and made out with him right there at the table? Would she get the Doctor’s attention? What if she went home with him? 

The Corsair, on the other hand, was less amused. She turned back to him, narrowing her eyes. “Go. Away.”

He rambled on as if she hadn’t spoken. “look like you could use some company.” He put a hand on the Corsair’s shoulder. “A few lovely women like yourselves.” 

What happened next was so fast it was over in a second. The Corsair swung her arm out to elbow the man in the stomach, sending him to the floor. In the process, she knocked over the pitcher, sending it flying off the table, right into Rose’s lap. The pirate howled with laughter as the man, pride wounded, went back to his mates. 

Rose stood up. She’d had enough. She wasn’t spending another moment here. 

The Corsair was still laughing, but the Doctor’s glee disappeared. “Rose, are you all right?” 

“I’m fine.” She said through clenched teeth. “Just need to clean up.” 

She stood up, slammed the empty pitcher on the table, and fought her way through the beer-drenched crowd to the exit.

The cold night outside was refreshing after the stifling heat of the bar. She stood in the stray light of one of the flats overhead, zipping up her parka. Her trousers and shirt, still soaked from beer, would freeze in a matter of moments, and she’d be colder. She didn’t care. She stood, across from the bar, arms crossed, fuming. What had gotten into the Doctor? She was ignoring the demons, who could be slaughtering more humans this very second, to go drink with that horrid woman? And for that matter, why was it bothering her so much? 

The bar door flew open. It was the Doctor. “Rose? What’re you doing out here?” When the Doctor saw her expression, she blinked in confusion. “What’s wrong?”

Rose glared at her friend. “Surprised you even noticed I was gone.” 

The Doctor sighed. “I haven’t seen the Corsair in ages. Wanted to spend some time with her. Is that so wrong?” 

“But now? When there’s possible vampires on the loose? Why is she more important than that?”

The Doctor’s eyes darted away. “It’s complicated.” 

“And that’s another thing! You never tell me anything!” Her frustration was bubbling to the surface. “Before today, I didn’t even know you were called a Time Lord. I still don’t know anything about you!” 

The Doctor curled her lips in anger. “What do you need to know? Hmm? I’ve been showin’ you amazing places, taking you anywhere you wanted, and the one time I need something for myself, to see a friend…and you throw a tantrum! It’s not just about you, all right?! Stop acting like a bloody child!” 

“You think I’m a child?! Fine. Go back to your friend. Have fun. Stay in this year with her for all I care.” Before the Doctor could respond, Rose stomped off through the ice-packed streets, leaving the Doctor behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a lot of research for this fic (by which I mean googling things), and one of the things that came up is Bo Obama has a surprisingly detailed Wikipedia entry. If you get a chance, check it out. 
> 
> Also: Rose, you idiot.


	10. The Hub of War (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last time:
> 
> The Doctor and Rose are in 1919 Boston investigating strange deaths allegedly caused by demons. They run into the Corsair, who takes up all of the Doctor's attention. Rose is angry at the Doctor for ignoring her, and the Doctor calls her unappreciative. Rose storms back to the TARDIS alone.

Rose headed straight for the kitchen when she entered the TARDIS, slamming the front doors behind her. It had taken forever to get back to the Common. Why had it been so hard to find? It was only the biggest bloody park in the city. She rifled through the tea packets until she found her favorite Earl Grey, draping the bag over a mug. A cuppa would settle her fury as well as warm her cold-stiffened limbs.

The Doctor was being such a tosser tonight. She’d had the nerve to call her selfish. All the while she was fawning over that bloody pirate. Laughing with her, smiling at her, looking at her like she was the only thing in the world. What was so special about the Corsair anyway? 

Rose shook her head. She didn’t even know why she cared so much. So the Doctor was catching up with an old friend, so what? Maybe it was the buzz that hadn’t worn off yet, but she sounded like a jealous girlfriend. That was ridiculous. She liked the Doctor, but not in that way. She wasn’t even the jealous type. It was just that the Doctor was smart and funny and energetic and caring and she loved being in her presence and she looked really good in her old tight jeans and—

 _Oh_. 

The realization hit her like a blow to the chest. Her feelings had been sitting there, underneath the surface, but now, acknowledged, they were obvious, like she’d known it all along. The knowledge pulsed through her, giving her presence, purpose, but also confusion. This couldn’t have come at a worse time. The Doctor was furious with her. What happened next? 

_At least I don’t have to worry about not being a real bisexual_ , she thought bitterly. _Probably._

The tea kettle whistled, interrupting her thoughts. Tea. Right. 

After pouring the water, looking down into the brown liquid, steam rising to meet her. Was there any possibility the Doctor felt the same? She thought of the easy routine they’d fallen into, how they joked with each other. But there was also the keeping her at arm’s length, saying so little about herself. And the awkward hug on Estragon. She’d been more receptive to the Corsair, though not outright flirting. She wasn’t sure what that would look like for the Doctor to flirt, given how awkward she was. She replayed that hug over and over again in her head, as much as it stung. Had the Doctor been uncomfortable, or merely surprised?

Rose thought of her last words, telling the Doctor to stay in 1919. She thought of the Doctor taking her home, leaving her there. The thought of going back to her old life was a stab in the heart. No, she wanted to stay. 

Finishing the last dregs of tea, she put the mug in the sink, and started down the corridor, with no particular destination. She was wrung out, weary, but also restless. She settled on the media room, sinking into the plush sofa. The Doctor had TV shows and movies from countless species and eras, but tonight she wanted something comfortable. On the menu, she pulled up _Love Actually_ one of her favorites. She started the movie but didn’t pay much attention. Instead, her thoughts drifted towards the Doctor. The way her smile was like the light of a sun. How she ran around like a toddler on espresso but could stop on a dime when she needed to. She could focus for hours to repair a solar sail for a damaged spaceship. The point of her chin, the lovely hollow of her throat. How it would feel to stroke her cheek, or rest her head against the Doctor’s chest, listening to her twin heartbeats. She couldn’t imagine much past kissing; it felt like looking head-on at a supernova.

She wished she had someone to talk to about this. The Doctor had soniced her phone so she could call from anywhere, but the only number she’d put into her new phone was Mum’s. Not that she’d know where to begin. She wasn’t even out to her friends. How could she explain she fancied an alien?

She should tell the Doctor about her feelings, but she didn’t know how best to put them into words. Her insides were an incoherent mess. Her heart stung she thought of what could only be rejection. Just like it had been with Larissa.

—  
It happened at her friend Josie’s birthday party. She’d met Larissa before; she was a friend of a friend she’d hung out with a few times. Despite being only a little older, Larissa was much more put together, and Rose admired her for it, along with Larissa’s sharp wit and fashion sense. 

The party had been a blast. Josie’s flat was crammed with people talking and drinking and dancing. It was sensory overload, but in a good way, a way that made her fully throw herself into everything. Music blaring from the wall-mounted speakers vibrated through her, a steady beat thumping through her veins as she danced. A few hours (and beers later) Rose found herself crammed on Josie’s sofa with three other girls, Larissa pressed up next to her. She laid her head on Larissa’s shoulder, woozy from the shots she’d had. enjoying the feel of her silk blouse against her cheek. She’d liked that blouse, the way it hugged her curves. She’d often admired her friends’ bodies. At the time, she thought most girls did the same.  
Larissa had a warm arm around her and was animatedly talking about something she couldn’t remember when someone said they looked like girlfriends. Larissa laughed and snuggled into her. 

Kiss, they heard someone holler.

You want to? Larissa asked. Her coffee-brown eyes were inviting, her expression as warm as the summer night outside. She’d never been into women before, but there was something that sparked in her at the mention. She nodded, yeah.

What was supposed to be one kiss turned into two, then three, then frantic grasping at each other, demanding more. Hoots and whistles came from the boys, but Rose paid no attention. She was focused on the softness of her skin, the delicate hands around her waist, the mingling of sweat and perfume. She wanted to drink Larissa in, taste more of her, lose herself in her.  
The boys kept egging them on, encouraging them to kiss again, not that either of them needed it. Despite her alcohol-fueled lack of inhibition, she’d been too hesitant and felt too exposed to try anything further. At the end of the night Larissa had hugged her, and she’d gone home in a happy daze.  
The next day she’d texted Larissa, suggesting they hang out that afternoon. She’d spent the morning trying on different outfits, and then an hour doing her makeup, wanting to look her best. More fuss than she’d ever made over a bloke. She was giddy with nerves as she approached Larissa’s flat. 

Larissa greeted Rose with her usual warm, friendly smile. They’d gone in her room and Larissa flopped down on the bed, laying down. Rose did the same, lying side by side with her, keeping a respectful distance apart. They lay in silence for a moment, looking at each other, her stomach did flip flops. What happened next?

After she couldn’t bear the suspense, Rose said, So, about last night.

It was fun, wasn’t it? Larissa was suddenly animated. Y’know Ronnie Golden? He came up to me later, said we were hot. He and I going out next weekend. Thanks. I owe ya one.

Rose’s heart fell. She pasted on a smile, said she was happy for Larissa. But she felt cheated, used, and felt too embarrassed to say so. She made an excuse to leave early went home. She was mad at Larissa for leading her on, but had she? Rose floundered in the following weeks, vacillating between blaming herself and feeling sorry for herself. Larissa and Ronnie became an item, and she kept her distance from both. 

She couldn’t talk to her friends about what happened. She was certain they’d dismiss her as attention-seeking, ask her for threesomes. And until now, nobody else made her light up the same way.

\--  
Rose jolted awake. The screen in front of her glowed blue; she must have fallen asleep during the movie. She checked her phone. It was almost morning, local time. She rubbed her eyes. Had the Doctor been gone all night? 

She felt the mental nudge towards the console room, but when she got there, the console room sat empty. No sign the Doctor had been there. Rose was just about to leave when she heard a click and the front doors unlocking. Rose felt her pulse jump as the front door swung open. The Doctor stepped into the TARDIS wearing a dreamy smile, which focused into a pensive stare when she caught sight of Rose. She couldn’t tell if the Doctor was still angry with her, or simply thinking. 

“Hi,” Rose said. They’d always been at ease with each other, but now she felt like she was in a straitjacket. 

“Hi,” The Doctor sounded a trifle flat, either from exhaustion or annoyance. “Sorry I’m back so late. Lost track of time.” 

“Lost track of time? For a couple of Time Lords, that’s astounding.” Rose had meant it as a joke, but the words came out sharper than she intended. She was still angry, more than she realized

“Bit rude,” she said, lightly mocking. Her hair was disheveled and her shirt untucked, making Rose wonder what exactly they’d been doing. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know.

“Yeah, I was. I’m sorry,” Rose said. She meant it both for what she’d said and the way she’d acted the night before.

The Doctor gave her a dismissive wave of the hand. “We have a lead on the bodies. The Corsair got to talking to these two blokes. They were in a rowboat near Battery Wharf and they hit something, just below the surface. Unmoving. Too big to be a submarine. Reported it to the Coast Guard, but never heard anything further.” 

“An alien ship, then?” Rose asked.

“Yeah. Might be.” The Doctor lacked her usual enthusiasm. She started at the ground, looking dejected. “She’s dead.”

“What?” Rose drew in a sharp breath. “Was it the demons?” Even though she hadn’t like the Corsair, she didn’t want the pirate dead. Especially for the Doctor’s sake.

The Doctor shook her head. “No, no, not now. She’s fine. But in my timeline, she’s-he’s-dead. He fell into a trap, called me for help. I didn’t get there in time.” The Doctor sighed, shoulders sagged, the weight of her failure pressing down on her. “I failed him.” 

“I’m sorry,” Rose whispered. She hadn’t thought of the possibility. It must be difficult to be the Doctor, meeting people from all over time. Knowing how they would end. She imagined the chance to see Gran one last time, or Dad for the first. She’d give anything for just a moment, let alone a whole night. 

“Don’t be sorry. Understand.” Anger flared in her eyes. “You want to know me? What it truly means to be a time traveler, Rose? This is it. This is who I am. To tread lightly, move without leaving marks. To hurt without breaking. To watch planets go from molten rock to crumbling dust. To lose everyone you have ever cared about, over and over and over again. It is a vast burden, and it’s lonely, and it’s mine.” 

“But you don’t have to bear it alone.” Rose chose her words carefully, not wanting to anger her further. There was so much pain in her expression. Pain and vulnerability. She looked fragile, even more so than when she’d been passed out on the sofa the night they’d met. 

“I do. Because I’ll still be here, long after you’re gone.” The Doctor turned away, and Rose had no response. She thought of what she’d asked the Doctor when she’d first asked to travel with her. 

_Do you ever take people with you?  
Sometimes._

Every one of those people who’d come before her was gone. Dead or departed she didn’t know. She couldn’t stay with the Doctor forever, but right now, she wanted to do something, anything, especially since she’d brought the loss to the forefront. _Let me ease your pain. Please. The least I can do for you._ She approached the Doctor, who avoided her, starting towards the corridor.

“I need a bite to eat,” The Doctor said, not looking at her. “The Corsair’s agreed to help us. She’s going to use her TARDIS to scout the harbor, look for the underwater ship. We’re going to meet her at Copp’s Hill in three hours.” She stopped and added in a flat tone, ”You can’t say anything. Don’t even look at her the wrong way, or she’ll know.” With that, she walked away.

“I know.” Rose said softly, even though the Doctor didn’t hear her. She felt ashamed but strangely gratified that in a small way. The Doctor’s facade had cracked, and she basked in her newfound knowledge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! I was hoping to wrap up this episode here, but it ran a little long (>5000 words), so I split it into two. The next one will mostly be action. Until next time!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously:
> 
> Rose (finally!) realizes she fancies the Doctor. The Doctor reveals the Corsair is dead in her timeline. Now, it's time to stop the blood draining demons.

Copp’s Hill was an old burial ground, filled with headstones so weathered the writing was barely visible. Rose squatted down, examining one that had fallen over from shifts in the dirt. Ahead of them, beyond the elevated rail tracks, Rose could see the wharves, lined with warehouses, overlooking the harbor. The temperature was warmer than the day before, reminding her of winters at home. 

“She should be pulling up any time now.” The Doctor scanned the horizon. Their conversation on the walk over had been stilted, but at least present. Rose missed their easy camaraderie and wondered if they’d ever have it again. “Let me know if you see her.”

After a few moments, The Corsair’s ship came into view. It hovered a hundred meters from the dock, its only movement the rocking of the waves. After arriving at the nearest dock, she met them on the hill. The Doctor kept a wary eye on Rose, watching to make sure she didn’t slip up and reveal the Corsair’s death. But she kept a firm, tight smile on her face.

The Corsair didn’t bother with greetings as she approached. “Found the ship. It’s not from Earth. It looks to be Axenic,” she said, addressing her remarks to the Doctor.

“The Axenic?” The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “They’re amphibious, which would allow them to move both on water and land. And they match the description Mrs. DiNolo gave us. But they don’t drink blood. They live on a strict diet of algae.” 

The Corsair shrugged. “Maybe they’re expanding their menus.” 

“Or they want it for something else,” said the Doctor. “But what?” 

Rose was watching the tracks and streets below, mostly cars and an errant pedestrian, but two figures caught her eye. The most striking thing was they were a doctor, a small, balding man in a white coat, and a nurse in a stiff matronly uniform, carrying a small case. Everyone else on foot was in a hurry, but they lingered around, the stark white of their clothes contrasting with the darker shades worn around them. The more she watched them, the more she was convinced their movements looked too stiff and jerky to be human.

She pointed to the doctor and nurse. “Look at those. What are they doing here?”

“They ain’t Axenic,” the Corsair grumbled. “They’re humans, just like you.”

Rose ignored her; she kept focused on the two figures as they walked to the pier. At the very edge, the nurse crouched down, looking at the water. With a single, fluid motion, the nurse stepped off the pier and into the dark water, barely ripping the surface.

“If they’re human, why did that nurse just walk off the pier?” she asked. 

The Corsair’s disgusted expression was unchanged, but the Doctor pursed her lips. “Could be in disguise. Let’s have a word with her friend.” 

The elevated train squealed on the tracks overhead as they crossed Commercial Street, coming face to face with the man in the lab coat under the train tracks. Upon seeing them, he raised his eyebrows. His curiosity shifted to wariness as he saw they were fixed on him.

“’Scuse me. Hello there. I’m the Doctor, and this is Rose and the Corsair.” The Doctor gave him a casual wave. “Can I ask you a few questions?”

“No time. Need to get back to the hospital. I’m a doctor.” He tried to step aside, but the Doctor held him by the shoulder.

“No, you’re not. I’m detectin’ some energy off you, and I’ll bet it’s a shimmer.” With her other hand, she waved the sonic. Briefly, the balding man was replaced by a tall, dark green, scaled beast with white eyes on either side of its head. He reverted to the human form when she stopped sonicing. “Temporary energy disguise, for doing your dirty work without standing out. So who are you, and what’re you doing with human blood?”

Without answering, the man wrenched free of the Doctor’s grip before running in the direction he came. The three women took off after him.

“D’you have to explain everything?!” said the Corsair, puffing to keep up with him. 

“Always!” the Doctor shouted.

They chased the man down the street, where he jogged off towards a cluster of warehouses. The Doctor and Rose kept after him as he started down railroad tracks next to a giant metal tank. The Corsair sprinted around to the other side, following the circumference of the tank. His speed surprised Rose, given how awkwardly he’d moved before. Slowed by the railroad tracks, the man veered left, only to skid to a stop when he came face to face with the Corsair, who gave him a nasty grin.

The man pulled out a gun, blue with an oblong barrel, and pointed it at the Corsair. “Don’t move, you two, or she gets it.” 

Rose was frozen. She knew the Corsair wasn’t going to die here, but she didn’t know how to stop him. The Corsair, on the other hand, looked unfazed, almost as if she were daring the man to shoot. But before either of them could act, the Doctor strode up to him. 

“Lying again! Shame on you!” She plucked the gun from his hand, as casual as picking a flower. Before he could protest, she said, “This isn’t a weapon. It’s a bioscanner. Which is the property of someone named Penstrep. Assuming that’s you. And,” she scanned her hand. “It says I’m not a host.” She glared at Penstrep. “Start talking. What’s this for? Are you plantin’ some sort of parasite in humans?”

“No,” he smirked. The distillery tank glinted in the sun as it towered over them. “The humans planted it themselves. An ingenious weapon, if I may say so myself. Which is why we wanted it.”

“What kind of parasite?” asked Rose.

“Yeah, you’re not makin’ any sense.” The Doctor remained fixed on him.

“I’m a scout for the Axenic. We have been at war for the Tloc for ten years,” he said. “Since they stole one of our moons.”

“They stole a moon? How?” asked the Doctor.

“We don’t know. But it’s gone,” he said. “They claim they don’t have it, but the Tloc are dishonorable fools.”

“How do you know it was the Tloc?” asked Rose. “Did you ever find it?”

“It had to be them. Who else?” Penstrep growled. 

“Got it. Long-standing grudges between Tloc and the Axenic. Like a pile of kindling, just need a spark,” said the Doctor.

“We came to Earth in search of new weapons. Humans have done nothing but fight each other since they crawled from the caves. This planet, Doctor, is a hub of war.” He smiled in delight.

Rose was about to protest, but she thought of the war Earth had just been through, and all the wars to come. Her own country occupying Iraq and Afghanistan. 

“Had to be a disappointment though,” the Doctor said, “finding such primitive tech.” 

“Not all of it. Not the virus. So, so many victims.” Penstrep’s lips curled up in a sneer. “We have been collecting it. Adapting. Making it our own.”

“Virus,” the Corsair huffed. “D’you mean the Spanish Flu?”

The Doctor scrunched her nose. “Oh! One of the most deadly pandemics in human history. It’s just hit Boston, a few months earlier…and you’re going to weaponize it! You needed samples. That’s why you drained the blood.” 

“That’s why you were chasing Mrs. DiNolo, isn’t it?” Rose asked. The washerwoman had been woozy, an early flu symptom. 

“Clever disguise, as a doctor and nurse,” the Doctor continued. “You’d have access to as many flu patients as you needed. But now that they’re no longer going to hospital in droves, you took matters into your own hands.” Her eyes narrowed as she leaned forward, showing a glint of teeth. “You’re not taking a single virus particle off this planet.”

Penstrep scoffed. “You can’t stop us.”

“I won’t let you commit genocide against the Tloc. Get your partner and your ship, take me to Axe. I can arrange an end to the war. There’s no need for violent solu—” but she was cut off by a blast to the tank, just to Penstrep’s side. Brown liquid gushed out, covering Penstrep as well as the ground.

Rose tried to jump back from the brown liquid, but it was sticky like mud and flowed to her ankles. More of it had splattered on her coat and face, covering her hair. She wondered if it was a type of mud when she recognized the sweet, earthy scent surrounding them. Molasses. 

Penstrep thrashed around, trying to wade through the flow of molasses coming out of the tank. It was rapidly flowing out of the tank, getting everywhere.

The Doctor glared at the Corsair. “Did you have to do that? I was in the middle of a brilliant speech about not using weapons.” 

The Corsair gave a half shrug. “Only wanted to give him a warning. Besides, they never listen to you.”

The Doctor opened her mouth to protest, but she was drowned out by a roar, coming from the tank. Cracks formed through the tank wall, fine as spider webs. Beneath them, the ground rumbled. 

Rose pointed to the cracks. “The tank! It’s going to burst!” 

“To my TARDIS!” the Corsair cried. They sped out of the distillery yard, down Commercial Street, towards the pier where her TARDIS was docked. Rose heard a loud crack behind her but didn’t dare look back. The molasses scent was overpowering, and she heard screams and shouting behind her. She panted, struggling to keep up. The molasses on her boots was sticking to the ground, slowing her down. She’d drown in it if she’d didn’t pick up her pace.

The Doctor, looking back, grabbed her hand and gave her a worried nod of encouragement. “We’re almost there!” The Doctor proclaimed. That gave her the extra oomph she needed to race down the pier and up the gangplank. From the ship’s bow, she caught her breath as they watched the streets fill with molasses. A giant wave crashed into the elevated rail tracks, and the metal groaned as the structure twisted and gave way. People were running, but not fast enough as they were submerged in the brown tide. The surrounding streets were filled with chaos and destruction, the molasses destroying everything in its path. 

Across the harbor, they saw a small ship rise from the water, made of the same blue metal as the bioscanner. It hovered briefly before zooming up into the atmosphere. The humans on the shore were too busy dealing with molasses to notice.

“Can’t believe something this exciting happened on Earth,” the Corsair grinned, looking up. “Be back in a moment.” She rushed into the ship’s cabin. 

Rose stared at the street, where the molasses was still flowing on the street. “Never expected to use molasses to stop aliens.” The Doctor hadn’t let go of her hand, a warmth spread over Rose, and she felt relief. Forgiveness. 

The Doctor gave her an amused grin. “Can’t say I have either. Might need to keep some aboard the TARDIS, instead of…” her smile dropped. “No!”

As if on her cue, a cannon pointed upwards from the brigantine’s stern, and fired, shooting laser blasts. In the distance, they saw the Axenic ship fall into the ocean. The Doctor let go of Rose’s hand, though it with the molasses, it took some effort.

The Corsair emerged from the cabin with a self-satisfied smirk. “New targeting system for the laser cannon. Works even better than I expected.”

“How could you do that?!” The Doctor took long strides up to the Corsair, grabbing her by her vest. “You killed them.”

The Corsair didn’t flinch. “You should be thanking me. The killer flu is dead in the ocean.” 

“We could have followed them. Tracked them.” 

The Corsair wrenched out of her grip. “Save it for your pets, Doctor. Rigid morality serves no one, and we both know you can be-” she paused for dramatic effect. “Flexible. Besides, I just saved the lives of millions of Tloc.”

“Doesn’t make it right.” The Doctor glared at her, but not in the eyes, but looked down, at her sticky boots. “I think you need to take us back to my TARDIS, right now.”

—

Rose emerged from the bath and reached for the clean clothes hanging on the back of the door. The scent lingered on her skin despite being scrubbed clean Her boots were off in the corner, still covered in molasses; they might be a lost cause.

The two Time Lords had exchanged some hushed words in furious tones when the Corsair had dropped them off. Rose asked what she said, but the Doctor only gave her a small, tight smile and said she and the Corsair had different ways of doing things. The Corsair’s ship dematerialized, while he and the Doctor gone on a search for the Axenic ship, but found only sheets of the blue metal floating in the water. It was almost a relief. Rose was weary. Wrung out. Her emotions were brittle like she’d snap at any moment. 

She found the Doctor in the console room, index fingers pressed to her temples. For a moment Rose thought she was having another headache-they’d increased in frequency over the past weeks-but she didn’t look pained, more as if she was concentrating on something, whatever she’d been doing at the pier when they’d found the Corsair. Rose leaned against the console, watching her. The Doctor had a pinch between her eyebrows, as she always did when she was focused on something. For a moment, she reached out, wanting to touch her, but withdrew before making contact. No. Best not to disturb her from what she was doing. 

The Doctor’s eyelids snapped open, and she jumped. “Aaah! How long have you been there?”

“Just a minute or two,” Rose said. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s all right.” She gave Rose a warm smile, though the pain in her eyes was unmistakable. “Just got a telepathic message from the Corsair.” Her face fell. “She’s not coming back to Earth. Not anytime soon. She found a fun crowd to run with on Gnakomia. Another planet.” 

“I’m sorry you won’t get to stay with her,” Rose said, and meant it. The Doctor clearly missed her freind. 

“It’s all right. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her, forgot what she could be like.”

“Armed?”

“Well, yes, that.” A hint of a smile returned. “And dismissive of humans. Besides, I’ve got someone to travel with. Right?” 

“Yeah.” The way the Doctor looked at her, all kindness and hope, and it almost made her not want to go home. But she needed to, she reminded herself. Besides, a little distance from the Doctor might help her sort out her feelings. “So, home then. Just for a visit.”

“For a visit.” the Doctor nodded in agreement. “I’ll get you home in a tick.” She moved to the console, pushing buttons and giving the surface an absent-minded pat. Rose watched her, trying to soak every bit of her in before she took a visit to her former life.

—  
Her surroundings felt surreal as Rose walked to her flat. Nothing had changed in the time she’d been gone. There was Mrs. Lowry’s bicycle, with its bright pink basket, propped up outside her flat. The peeling paint on the outer walls. But it was unfamiliar, like that life had happened to someone else.

She entered the flat to find Mum sitting a few inches from the telly, glued to the screen. She didn’t even notice Rose had come in until the door clicked shut. She turned to Rose, fright all over her features. What was wrong? “Mum?”

“Rose!” she ran over and hugged her, squeezing her in desperation. This was not the reaction for a daughter on holiday. “You’re safe!”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Dread filled her. Mum couldn’t have known about the Doctor, could she? “What’s going on?”

“You don’t know? But it’s everywhere!”

“What is?”

“The water. It’s frozen.” She gestured to the image on the TV screen. The Thames was a solid, unbroken block of ice. But the temperature had been nearly thirty degrees outside. 

Rose stared at the screen in disbelief. “Is it just the Thames?”

Mum shook her head. “It’s all the water in the world. Everywhere. Frozen. They can’t melt it.” 

Newly energized, Rose sprinted out of the flat, straight towards the TARDIS, ignoring Mum shouting after her. She and the Doctor would stop this, and that was more important than anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Great Molasses Flood was a real event, which happened on January 15, 1919. The actual cause was shoddy workmanship of the distillery tank combined with unseasonably warm weather and freshly delivered (and warmed) molasses. It’s my favorite historical fact about Boston. Photos can be found here: https://allthatsinteresting.com/boston-molasses-flood If you’re curious about the speed of molasses in January, it was measured at 35 mph-not slow at all. 
> 
> With the exception of the bars and the grocer, all the places mentioned in "The Hub of War" are real, or were in 1919. The elevated rail was torn down in 1942, and where the distillery tank stood is now a park and bocce court. 
> 
> Tl;dr: I am a giant nerd. 
> 
> Next up: The Icemen of Mongolia. We'll be seeing a few old friends in this episode too, and it will go much better for Rose. Stay tuned!


	12. The Icemen of Mongolia (I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose gets sucked deeper into the Doctor’s world when she meets Martha Jones and the rest of the Torchwood team. Together, they face off against one of the Doctor’s most formidable enemies.

Ice.

Nothing but ice in every direction. A flat sheet, unbreaking, out to the horizon.

Every body of water on Earth, lake, ocean, reservoir, had been turned to ice. Cargo ships were stuck at sea. Sinks and showers ran dry. Crops stood in fields, parched leaves beginning to shrivel. The clouds hung overhead but not a drop of rain had fallen anywhere, not once in the hours since the planet was frozen. 

Desperate attempts had been made around the planet to melt, to break, but the surface could not even be scratched. Newscasters urged the public to remain calm, wait for solutions, but a quiet, desperate knowledge lurked beneath the surface. Without water, the days of life on Earth were numbered. Water was essential. Water was life. 

The Doctor had landed somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Despite the warm breeze, Rose found herself shivering. The only feature of the endless white plain was the TARDIS, several feet behind them, and themselves. She could see for miles, maybe hundreds of miles, in every direction. It was too big, too much. Instinctively, she reached for the Doctor’s hand. If she didn’t hold on to something, she’d drift off like a balloon, twisting in the wind. The reassuring smile and squeeze she got in return were worth feeling vulnerable.

“Not sure what to make of this.” The Doctor crouched down, running the sonic along the ice, brows furrowed. It was the look that said she was immersed in thought. The sun beat down upon them, and the Doctor put her hand over her eyes for shade. Rose studied her, rather than the ice, waiting for the moment her features relaxed in an “A-ha!”. Instead, her lips pursed into a frown. 

“The molecular structure and movement of the water have been altered. That’s what’s causing the ice. Some good news, the sea life is in suspended animation.” She gave Rose a pointed look. 

“More evidence for this being done on purpose, right?” Rose replied. The Doctor was always encouraging her to come to conclusions herself. “And the water in our bodies isn’t frozen either.”

“Gold star!” the Doctor pointed at her. “Someone or something is choosing what to freeze. Let’s look for more clues. And whoever it is, it wants the human race alive.” 

Rose’s phone vibrated in her pocket. Probably Mum again. She’d called and texted eight times since she’d run out of the flat back into the TARDIS. She didn’t want to explain; what’s more, she didn’t know how. But the phone kept vibrating, and she finally got disgusted and pulled it out.

The message was not a call from Mum, but a video that had begun playing. A severe ginger woman of roughly fifty, with round black glasses, stood against a plain white background. She waved the Doctor over to watch:

“People of Earth: Congratulations. You have been selected for immediate enslavement. The waters will remain frozen until your leaders give their unconditional surrender. Any attacks will be met with swift opposition. You have 24 hours.” 

The video replayed in a loop. Rose couldn’t make it stop, even by turning off the phone. “Whoever it is, she’s overriding all frequencies and commands.” The Doctor said. “My guess is it’s playing on every frequency, every device, all over the world. Let’s get back to the TARDIS.” 

The woman was playing on the TARDIS monitors as well, repeating in an endless cycle. The Doctor watched, arms folded, studying the video. “Something familiar about all this. Can’t quite place it. Getting thick in my old age.” 

“We have the why, at least.” Rose studied the woman on the screen. Despite the threats, she felt more secure in the TARDIS. Grounded. “What do we do?”

“We track down the signal.” She bent over the console, hands flying over the controls. She moved at the speed of light, barely noticing what she touched. There were times Rose believed the Doctor and the TARDIS functioned as one.

“But Doctor, the nasty hag said we shouldn’t go looking for her.” Rose teased. “You wouldn’t want to disappoint her, would you?”

The Doctor looked up at her long enough to give her a cheeky grin. “Never been good at following directions.” A moment later, the console beeped. “Got a lock-it’s in Manchester. Off we go.” She studied the looping video as she pulled the lever. “Who are you?”

—

They tracked down the signal to the site of what had been a tool factory. Judging by the faded sign over the door, it had been out of business for decades. But when they tried to enter, Rose felt resistance a tingling in the front of her head. Something wouldn’t let her move beyond a few inches from the doors.

“Psychic perimeter.” The Doctor pulled her sonic. “Whoever’s in here is one, not from Earth, and two, doesn’t want visitors.”

“Something in there they want to keep hidden, then.” 

“Or they had a bad run with Jehovah’s Witnesses.” A wave of the sonic was enough to take out the perimeter, and they stepped into the factory.

The expanse of the factory floor was devoid of any sign of life, alien or otherwise. Sunlight drifted in from the high windows, exposing the dust in the air. Moss grew out of cracks in the walls. The Doctor looked around, turning over pieces of paper scattered on the ground. Rose caught a whiff of motor oil as she surveyed the broken glass and beer cans, arranged in a rough circle. Teenagers breaking in, she thought, or squatters. She watched the Doctor, who was sticking her fingers in a puddle on the floor. A beam of sunlight hit her hair, making it look golden.

“Not much of a hideout.” The Doctor examined the black sludge on her fingers. ”Whoever’s behind the ice, they’re not posh.” 

“You never take me anywhere nice,” Rose teased, giving her a coquettish smile. Maybe dropping a few hints would give the Doctor ideas.

The Doctor didn’t look away from the sludge. Almost absentmindedly, she said, “After this, remind me to take you to the dual eclipses on Yetreon. The moons only align once every thousand years. It’s fascinating. I’m going to take a look at the factory offices upstairs. Can you check those storage rooms in the back?”

“Sure.” Rose sighed and turned away, staring at the concrete wall. She had to be clever about everything except flirting, didn’t she? 

In the first storage room, there was nothing but rubbish, old furniture, and the faint odor of stale urine. The second was a little more promising. A large silver cube, about as high as her waist, stood at the center of the room. Giant pieces of foil were fanned out over the top. Rose didn’t know what it was, but it did not belong in a tool factory that had been shuttered since the seventies.

She knelt on the floor, touching the smooth surface of the cube. Not a trace of the dust that covered everything thing else in the factory. But no controls or writing either. She should get the Doctor, but she wanted to take a look herself, first. She was about to pull out her phone to take pictures when a hole opened in the side, from no visible opening, accompanied by a hiss. A thick black cable slithered out, darting towards her. 

Rose tried to back away, but the cable curled itself around her ankle, keeping her in place. She tugged at it, tried to pry it off, but the cable only squeezed further, making her yelp in pain. Another cable sprung out of the box, going after her arm. She dodged out of the way, but between the cable around her ankle and the pain, she could only move so far. More cables were coming, moving too quickly to count. She couldn’t avoid them all. She was about to cry for help when she heard a blast, and the cable tying her to the box was blasted clean off.

“You’ve triggered the defense system!” A woman about Rose’s age, straightened hair pulled back into a ponytail, was standing behind her, gun pointed at the box. “Get back!”

Rose moved backwards towards the door, unwilling to take her eyes off the cube. The cables danced through the air, then came to an abrupt stop before being retracted into the cube, scraping along the concrete floor. 

“You’re out of range. They’ve retracted. “The woman reholstered her gun as her sharp eyes narrowed on Rose. “What are you doing here?”

Rose rubbed her ankle. It was sore, but she should be able to walk. “Thanks. Don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t shown up.” 

“You didn’t answer the question.” Her would-be savior was dressed head to toe in black, and carried herself with military precision. “hat are you doing in here?”

“Trying to figure out what that thing was.” Rose pointed to the cube. “I’m Rose, by the way, and you are…?”

“Martha,” she said sharply. “How’d you get past our perimeter?” 

“Your perimeter?”

“It doesn’t matter, you shouldn’t be here. It’s very dangerous,” Martha said, irritated.

“I could say the same thing to you.” The woman looked gave her an exasperated look, but Rose stood her ground. “Tryin’ to help is all. My friend and I saw the video with the ginger woman, and we traced the signal here. My friend, she’s really good at this sort of thing.”

Martha stood rigid, ready to fight but didn’t make a move. “I don’t know how you traced anything, but the signal? That box? Let the professionals handle it. You need to leave, now.” 

“Professionals,” Rose scoffed. This was beyond Earth authorities. “I think you’re in way over your head.”

Martha sputtered, but before she could reply, they heard a scream from down the hall. The Doctor. Rose wasted no time sprinting up the stairs, aware her confronter was close at her heels. 

“That your friend?” Martha asked.

“Careful with that gun! She doesn’t like them!” Rose shouted.

“She’ll like being squeezed to death even less!” she shouted back.

They found the Doctor in an office, ensnared in the cables. They moved like snakes tightening around her waist and limbs, and now closing around her neck. She managed to gasp, “Sonic!”, pointing to the floor.

Rose quickly scanned the floor, darting out of reach of the slithering cables. catching a glint of the sonic on the floor. She could grab it, but she’d have to be quick. The Doctor didn’t have much time. She darted around a cable coming towards her, lunging for the sonic, only to have a cable whip around her wrist. Rose tried not to panic. She couldn't reach the Doctor, but she could use the sonic herself. She had before. _Point and think_. She pointed it at the cables and fired. To her relief, the cables went limp, dropping to the floor.

Free of the cables, the Doctor leaned forward and clutched her neck, gasping for air. “Not my favorite thing, being strangled,” she said between breaths. “Reminds me of the time…” she trailed off, her eyes going wide with delight. “ _Martha Jones!_ ” 

Martha stared back at them, eyes wide in shock. “Doctor, is that you?” 

“Yeah,” she gave a little nod. 

“Oh my God, it’s so good to see you!” Martha was grinning from ear to ear. “I can’t get over this! It’s such a…different…look for you!” 

“Changed it a few times since I saw you last,” The Doctor couldn’t stop smiling. “That must have been…a few months ago for you, right?” 

“Yeah, thereabouts.” She turned to Rose. “And you must be the Doctor’s newest partner in crime.” 

“Rose Tyler, meet Dr. Martha Jones,” the Doctor said. “She used to travel with me.”

“Sorry about earlier. You never know when civilians are going to be messing about when you’re trying to track down aliens.” Martha offered to shake her hand in earnest. All traces of her earlier irritation were gone. Being associated with the Doctor was all it took to win her over. “Nice to meet you.”

“So, you’re a professional alien hunter?” Rose asked.

“More like guardians for the planet.” Martha shot a look to the Doctor. “She doesn’t know about Torchwood yet?” 

The Doctor shook her head. “Been a bit busy. What do you know so far?”

“There’d been reports of some strange glowing in this factory last night. We found those boxes, but we hadn’t figured out how to open them.” she gestured to Rose. “Rose got snared by one too. There’s two more on this floor. We suspect they were used for the signal transmission, but the snake things were a defense mechanism. We were trying to find a way to disarm them when you two showed up.” 

The Doctor kicked one of the cables. It didn’t budge. “The sonic must have de-activated the defense system. Let’s have a look. You two, stay back, in case it goes off again.” 

As the Doctor squatted down to get a look at the cube, Martha slowly shook her head in awe. “Can’t get over it. I knew the Doctor regenerated, but to become a whole different person…nothing could prepare me for this.” 

“I met her right after it happened,” Rose said. “Found her on my way home from work. She fell out of the sky.”

“Sounds about right,” Martha said. “He showed up at my hospital one day. Then it got moved to the moon.”

“What was…he like before?”

“Mad. Manic. Cheeky. Bit arrogant. It was the best time.” She sounded wistful as she pulled out her phone. “This is us.” 

Rose studied the picture. Martha was with a skinny man with sideburns towering over her. He wasn’t a bad looking bloke. Perhaps there were advantages to being bisexual. “And what exactly is Torchwood?”

“Secret organization. Anything extraterrestrial. Couldn’t go back to a normal life after the Doctor, you know?” she grinned.

Rose wondered if she loved working with aliens, why leave the Doctor? Before she could ask, Martha’s pocket beeped, and she pulled out her phone. “Jack! I know, the perimeter’s down. You’ll never guess who I bumped into. Get in here; you’ll want to see this for yourself.”


	13. The Icemen of Mongolia (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor, Martha, and Rose are investigating the cause of an ice-covered Earth in an abandoned Manchester factory. They're just about to meet with Captain Jack.

They met Captain Jack on the factory floor, where he came bounding up to the Doctor. After dropping a backpack, he ran up to her, picking her up and spinning her around. “Doctor! I absolutely love this new look.”

“Oi, Jack! Put me down!” The Doctor protested, but only lightly. Captain Jack had been the first person she’d traveled with after the Time War, and his effervescent nature, not to mention hijinks, had been a welcome presence in those dark days. Even though they hadn’t initially parted on the best of terms, he’d always hold a special place in her hearts. He’d left after the battle of Canary Wharf to revive what was left of Torchwood, and she hadn’t been happy about it, but over time, she’d understood why he’d did so. 

If Jack had any bitterness about their parting, he wasn’t showing it now. He couldn’t stop gushing. “Gotta say, I love the rainbows. And the leather jacket! Looks fab on you. Reminds me of the you I first met, with the ears?” He grinned. “We had good times back then, didn’t we?”

“You mean like when you tried to sell me a junk ambulance and almost turned London into zombies?”

“I got better,” he pointed out. “I was thinking more when we protected Queen Victoria from that werewolf. And that thing, the Wire, that took my face? I didn’t have a face.”

“It was a big improvement. You stopped talking,” she teased.

“That’s not fair.” He stuck his chin in the air, assuming a regal pose. “How could you deny the world a face like this?” 

As the women laughed, and Jack’s gaze was drawn to Rose, looking her up and down. He gave her a slight grin. “Well, hello there.”

“Stop it,” the Doctor warned, but Rose didn’t seem to mind. She’d looked perturbed when he’d first come in, but her apprehension had melted into her usual warmth. The Doctor had been worried after things had gone sideways with the Corsair, but she couldn’t have chosen better friends to run into. Martha and Jack were as friendly and welcoming as you could get. 

In Jack’s case, maybe too friendly.

“What? I’m just trying to get to know the new team member,” he scoffed. “Captain Jack Harkness. Leader of Torchwood.”

“I’m Rose.” She giggled and held out her hand as Jack bowed to kiss it.

“Wonderful to meet you, Rose.” Jack grinned. “You pick the loveliest companions, Doctor. If you two aren’t busy later—”

“Jack!” The Doctor and Martha shouted in unison. 

“Right, sorry. Ice-covered Earth,” he said. “We took some readings in Cardiff. Tried to take an ice sample and failed. We saw the broadcast and went to consult with the rest of the team when you showed up.” 

“They’re Contosh devices,” The Doctor said. “Used to deflect and amplify the broadcast signal, so it looked like it was coming from this factory, but it wasn’t. It was a false lead, designed to distract anyone who came looking for the woman.”

“While the booby traps took care of anyone who came snooping around,” Martha added.

“So the trail is cold,” Jack rubbed the back of his neck. “How do we find her?”

“Is there something in the devices, if we took them apart, that we could use to trace the signal back?” Rose asked. 

The Doctor pointed at her. “Good idea! Five points to Rose.”

Her companion raised an eyebrow. “Points? What are we, Hogwarts houses?”

“If you complain, you’re going to be Slytherin,” the Doctor quipped. “Do we know anything about the woman in the broadcast?”

“Let’s check in with the rest of the team.” Jack opened his backpack and pulled out a laptop. Far too advanced for 2009 Earth, the Doctor noted. Within moments, he had Gwen and Ianto onscreen. After a quick round of introductions, they got to business.

“We found the woman from the video,” said Gwen. “Agnes Ludstrom, 54, of Ealing. Former vice-president at Klanger Robotics. Quit two months ago. According to personnel reports she was taking early retirement, but her blog is filled with rants about the glass ceiling, what she’s had to do to survive in a man’s world. She’d been passed over for a C-suite job at Klanger. Lives alone. Her house was searched by the police after the broadcast. No sign she’s been there in weeks. Her mum is in a care home, and she’s the only one that’s heard from her since she quit Klanger. Says Agnes was short with her in the last few calls, and was too busy to visit.”

“So she turned on the human race because she’s disgruntled?” Rose said. “That’s rubbish.”

“Humans have colluded with aliens over far less,” said the Doctor. “It never ends well for them.”

“We’re going through the entire Torchwood arsenal to reverse the freezing, but nothing’s worked,” Ianto said. “Never seen anything like it.”

“There’s one thing you and I haven’t tried, Ianto.” Jack winked. “Something guaranteed to create a lot of heat.” 

“Jack!” all four women shouted. Onscreen, Gwen shook her head. 

“I’m going to take apart the Contosh cases. Trace the source of the signal,” the Doctor pointed to their onscreen mates. “Keep looking for anything related to Ms. Ludstrom. Sightings, assets, her favorite biscuit. Any small detail might tell us where she is.”

“Will do.” Ianto gave a mock salute. “And Jack, behave.”

“Never,” he winked. 

After shutting off the laptop, the Doctor started giving orders. “Jack, re-establish the perimeter. We need a warning system in case we have any unfriendly intruders. Martha, Rose, you’re with me.” 

—

The Doctor had disassembled the deactivated the Contosh case, pulling it apart and spreading out the contents on a steel work table. She’d added a few tools and bits of equipment from the factory. A few motors, some thin rolls of electrical tape, and an ancient, tiny television. It reminded Rose of the one Gran had used to watch her soaps.

Martha was asking something about the ice, but Rose was watching the Doctor at work. Tongue out of the corner of her mouth, like she always did when she was concentrating. Her hands, moving along coils of thin wire. The hollow of her throat. Her eyes, expressive and watching everything. 

“Rose?” Martha snapped her out of her thoughts. 

“Huh? Sorry.” She needed to stop getting lost in the Doctor and pay attention. Especially if there were more traps in the factory. “What were you saying?”

“Just asking how it’s been going, traveling in the TARDIS.” Martha put on a cordial smile, but there was a hint of concern in her expression.

“It’s been great,” Rose spoke too quickly. “Great. We just came back from America. We were supposed to meet Barack Obama, but we got covered in molasses instead.” 

“So, normal trip,” Martha chuckled. “I was living in America, actually, until a few months ago. In New York. I used to work for UNIT.”

“You worked for UNIT?” Rose asked. Nardole mentioned the Doctor had been involved with them somehow. “What are they?”

“Unified Nations Intelligence Task Force. Same kind of thing, protecting the Earth from aliens, but more paperwork.”

“And you worked with them too,” Rose addressed the Doctor. 

“Yeah. On and off, years ago,” the Doctor replied, distracted by the mass of metal in her hands.

Secret organizations working on Earth could only mean the Doctor wasn’t the first one. “So aliens…they’ve been coming to Earth for years.”

The Doctor smirked. “Yep. Been all over Earth’s history. And yes, hostile aliens have been here. Tons of them.”

Martha gave her a puzzled look. “You don’t remember when the Earth got moved? Three moons in the sky? Daleks everywhere?”

Rose shook her head. “What are Daleks?”

“Oh, she wouldn’t remember,” the Doctor said. “Had to reboot the universe a while back. Long story involving a crack in a little girl’s bedroom. Given the retrodimensional dispersion of the reality bomb, space-time was at a weak point. The event didn’t survive the reboot. You and I will remember it, and the rest of us that were on the _Crucible_ , but nobody else will.” 

The Doctor spoke about it casually, as if this was an everyday occurrence, but Rose was dumbfounded. Monumental events, gone. What else had been erased?

Martha paused for a moment, debating if she wanted to speak. “You know, I saw Donna the other day.”

The Doctor’s head snapped up. “You didn’t say anything to her?” It was a question, but it sounded more like a warning.

“I didn’t even approach her. We were having brunch at a cafe and saw her there with some friends. Laughing and having mimosas.”

Rose watched the two of them exchange a look she couldn’t read, “Donna is—” 

“Safe. Happy. And alive.” The Doctor responded, tight-lipped. She gripped the metal rod in her hands so tight, she was bound to leave fingerprints. “If there was another way—” she trailed off

“I know.” Martha played with a few gears, idly turning them in circles. “She looked in my direction, but she didn’t recognize me. Didn’t even notice me. Suppose I should be used to that.” She gave the Doctor a pointed glance. 

The Doctor went back to working on the Contosh device, occasionally asking Martha or Rose to pass her a transducer, or hold wiring. Minutes ticked by, an uncomfortable quiet filled the room. Rose sensed the odd tension between them, wondering what had happened, and if it had something to do with why Martha had left the TARDIS. She didn’t want to bring up a sore subject, so instead, she looked for a change of subject. She noticed Martha had taken off her gloves, and her glance fell to the gold band on her ring finger. “You’re married?”

“Yeah.” Martha beamed. “It’ll be two months next Thursday.” 

That caught the Doctor’s interest. “How’s married life?” 

“It’s good. He’s good. Think Mum likes him better than me,” Martha’s smile faded. “Speaking of married life, how is, you know, him and Joan Redfern?”

“Very happy. They started their own school together,” the Doctor said. “You could have come to the wedding. I would have taken you.” 

Martha put out her hands. “No, no, no. Couldn’t pay me to go back to 1913. Besides, Joan was awful to me.”

“Which I have apologized for. Repeatedly. Now, I think we’re just about done.” The Doctor gestured to a set of lights at the table. “Rose, keep an eye on that monitor. When I turn this on, you’ll see a string of numbers, and then the coordinates for the signal source, the true signal source, will appear on the screen. Got it?”

“Got it.” She positioned herself in front of the old telly, running her jacket sleeve to rub off the grime that covered the screen. She looked up at the Doctor, poised in concentration. She loved this look. She was reminded of a tiger, ready to pounce.

She soniced the head light, and sparks began to fly. The string of lights began to pop out, one by one. The Doctor frowned. “What? That’s not supposed to happen.”

“Wait! There’s something on the screen.” Rose waved them over. A series of numbers, letters, symbols she didn’t recognize. The screen went white, and instead she saw Agnes Ludstrom, haughty and severe.

“Well then, one of you was clever enough to decode the signal,” she smirked. “Feel proud. But it will not be enough to stop me.”

“Agnes,” The Doctor said. “Who are you working with?”

“I work with no one but myself,” Agnes purred. 

“That’s impossible,” the Doctor said through clenched teeth. “What did you do to the water?” 

“Do you really expect me to give away all my secrets?” Agnes sneered.

“Fine then. Where are you? We’ll settle this.” 

Agnes laughed, a high pitched, cruel sound. “If I wanted you to know where I was, I wouldn’t have broken into your decryption, would I?”

“How could you do this?!” Rose broke in. “People are going to die.”

“Have you seen what’s been happening, since the water froze? Riots have broken out, all over the world. Looting and fighting and killing. Humans fall apart at the slightest inconvenience. They need a strong hand. They need guidance.”

“In the form of slavery? You’re mad.” Martha said.

“And you’re wasting my time. I wanted world leaders, not random wankers .”

“We’re not random, we’re the ones who are gonna find you, and reverse the ice. This is Martha and Rose, and I’m the Doctor.”

At the mention of her name, Agnes’ eyes widened. “Oh, _Doctor_ , so fitting we meet again.”

“Again?” The Doctor bore a look of confusion.

“Who is that?” Rose asked.

“Haven’t the foggiest,” she whispered. Martha looked just as puzzled. 

“In fact, I’ve changed my mind, Doctor. I do want you and your human friends to come here. You do like to destroy my plans, don’t you? Not this time. Come here and be killed, along with your little pets!”

With that, the television snapped off, leaving only a trail of numbers.

The Doctor slammed the side of the telly in anger. “Blast it!” 

“It’s okay. We got the coordinates, we can find her, yeah?” Rose said.

“Agnes knows we’re coming. We’re walking into a trap. But if we do nothing…” she trailed off. “There’s something familiar about all this. Agnes couldn’t have worked the Contosh cases by herself, even if she found them. Who is she?”

“Maybe it’s an alien that brainwashed Agnes,” Martha said. “Or a shapeshifter. Took her identity.”

“Maybe it’s a shimmer,” Rose added, wanting to be helpful.” She’s in disguise.”

“Too many possibilities.” The Doctor nodded. “Don’t know how she knows me. I’ve made a lot of enemies. If I had some sort of clue, I’d have an idea of how to stop her.”

Jack burst into the room, panting. “Just got a call from Gwen.” He stopped, surveying the three of them. “What happened?”

“Agnes. She’s left us a trail—and a warning.” Martha said. She quickly filled him in.

Jack’s lips tightened into a thin line. “Where do those coordinates lead?”

The Doctor zapped them with the sonic. “Inner Mongolia.” 

“Gwen says there’s been reports of soldiers made of ice, in southern Mongolia. They don’t speak, they don’t respond, they just march and shoot. They’ve terrorized several small villages,” he wiped the sweat from his brow. “It’s gotta be related.” 

The Doctor squared her shoulders. “We need to go. Even if it’s a trap. We can’t stand by and do nothing.” 

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“And we’re the best chance humanity has. Team? Gang? To the TARDIS.” The Doctor was already halfway to the door. “We’re going to Mongolia. 

As Rose followed after the group, she also wondered about Donna, the woman the Doctor and Martha mentioned earlier. But when she got caught up in everything that happened next, she forgot to ask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so much fun writing this chapter, particularly Jack’s dialogue. Maybe I’ll do another AU of Jack, Martha, Rose and the Doctor teaming up to battle alien baddies :)


	14. The Icemen of Mongolia (III)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and her friend are headed to Mongolia to find out what's causing the Earth's bodies of water to freeze. Rose has a heart-to-heart conversation with Jack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dear readers. 
> 
> Thank you for your patience. I normally try to update a minimum of once a week, but I’ve been doing NaNoWriMo for a different project and got caught up in that, so…here it is! Just watched the trailer for "Revolution of the Daleks" and I can't wait for New Year's Day.
> 
> This chapter has a CW for blood.

Fifteen minutes later, the crew stepped out of the TARDIS into darkness.

Rose hadn’t expected it to be dark, and she wondered at first if they’d traveled in time as well as space. But then she remembered China was several hours ahead. Streetlamps illuminated the concrete high-rises that surrounded them, all with blacked-out windows. Perfectly spaced in a perfect grid on unblemished streets. The perfection was unnerving, Rose thought, or it may have just been her anticipation of what they were walking into. She shivered and didn’t know if it was the wind or her nerves. 

“Where are we?” Martha looked around. 

“Kangbashi” The Doctor locked the TARDIS door. “Good place to hide. The Chinese government built all of this. Flat complexes, office buildings, museums, parks. Then the real estate market crashed and nobody moved in. All these buildings?” she waved with a sweep of her hand. “They’re empty.” 

“So, it’s like a ghost town?” asked Rose.

“More like a city that never was. Humans think of cities as skyscrapers and monuments. But at their heart, cities are their people.”

That was what was bothering her, she realized. It didn’t feel like a city so much as a model of one. There wasn’t a single car or pedestrian in sight. She swore her steps echoed as she walked down the unblemished sidewalk. She almost missed the cracks and graffiti of London. 

“How do we find Agnes?” Martha asked. “Do we have a plan?”

“Still workin’ on it,” the Doctor said. “These are the coordinates she gave us. Given how empty the city is, I suppose she’ll be easy to spot.”

The four walked in silence down the empty road passing row upon row of identical high-rises. Rose fell in step beside Jack. He swung his arms, appearing jaunty, but his right hand never strayed a few inches from the gun at his hip.

“The Doctor doesn’t mind that you’re armed?” she asked.

“We’ve had our differences. One of several.” He gave her an easy smile. “Might have an extra piece if you want one.”

She’d have to be blind not to see weapons had gotten them out of some jams, despite the Doctor’s stance against them. Still, the Doctor’s disapproval loomed over her. “No thanks.”

“That’s fair. How long have you been traveling with her?” He kicked a random pebble as he walked. 

“Oh, about a month? It’s hard to keep track,” she said. There was something else she’d been wondering about since he’d first shown up. Something she was hesitant to ask. Jack’s earlier flirtation felt authentic, but she wanted to be sure. “So, Ianto…is he your boyfriend?”

His face brightened. “Yeah.”

She hesitated for a moment. “Are you bisexual?”

“I hate to limit myself. I like just about everything.” He gave her a curious gaze. “Are you?”

Her face burned. She’d never said it out loud before. Her friends had assumed her making out with Larissa was drunken fooling around, and she’d been too embarrassed to correct them. Jack watched her expectantly, waiting for a response. 

“Yeah,” she said, in a barely audible voice. She braced herself for a wisecrack, or interrogation, but was only met with an encouraging smile. “Yeah. I am,” she repeated, louder. 

He gave her a wider grin. “You know, I’m not originally from this time. I grew up on the Boeshane peninsula, in the 51st century. Whoever you liked-men, women, anything in between, even none of the above-it wasn’t a big deal. It’s just who you are.” 

“That’s not how it is now,” The thoughts she’d carried around with her burst forth, like floodgates. “I keep thinking, I’ve never done anything with a woman beyond snogging, how do I know for sure?”

“Let’s put it this way,” he said. “Have you had sex with a guy?”

“Yeah.” She tried not to blush.

“Did you know you liked guys before you had sex with them?”

“Yeah.”

“So did I.” He winked.

She laughed. Jack had a point. She felt as intensely for the Doctor as she had for any bloke. She stole a glance at the Doctor, who was in the middle of a lengthy spiel about something to Martha. The Doctor saw her looking and gave her a friendly smile. _Does she know what I feel for her? Can she sense it?_

Not wanting to be too obvious, she turned her attention back to Jack. The buttons on his jacket glinted in the streetlight. “If you’re interested, I can introduce you to some like-minded women. They’re a lot of fun.” 

The thought was briefly tempting. “Thanks, but maybe some other time.”

“Okay,” he nodded. He looked like he was about to ask her something else when they were interrupted by a faint rumble, and the sound like clinking ice cubes, but thousands of them. Ahead, a line of figures, completely made of clear ice, marched towards them in lockstep, their joints clinking with each movement. The Doctor and her friends turned around to run, only to have more Ice Soldiers approaching from behind. They were surrounded. All of the Ice Soldiers were identical except for one, a head taller than the rest. It broke from the group, coming forward. 

The Doctor ran the sonic over the leader. “Completely made of ice. Minimal neural impulses. Guessing march, point, shoot.”

“We’re dead,” whispered Martha.

“No. If they wanted us dead, they would have shot us by now,” the Doctor whispered back. She raised her hands and said. “Oi, you, can you take us to Agnes? Don’t want to miss our appointment.”

The largest one said nothing, but turned about-face and began walking. The other Ice Soldiers followed suit. Rose felt a chill on her shoulder and realized it was a Soldier urging her forward. Its companions were grabbing Martha and Jack and taking away their weapons. 

Jack side-eyed the Doctor as they walked. “This part of your plan?”

“It is now,” she said. “We need to find Agnes, find out what she’s doing so we can stop it.” 

—

The Ice Soldiers took them to the sixth floor of a hospital. All steel and glass, the hospital was just as sterile as the rest of Kangbashi. The Doctor and her friends were led to a large, white room.

“We’re in an OR,” Martha said. They were huddled together in the center of the room. Solid white at every surface, the spacious room reminded Rose of the tunnel from her dreams. Except her dreams didn’t have stainless steel carts filled with equipment lined against the walls. Or ceiling mounted fluorescent lamps. Or four Ice Soldiers, standing at attention at each corner.

Agnes entered through the swinging double doors. “Ahh, Doctor.Thought you’d feel at home, being it’s a hospital.”

“My home isn’t filled with armed soldiers,’ the Doctor spat out. “Which I’m guessing you need to enforce your worldwide slavery. Unquestioning automatons that won’t get out of line. But they only obey a small range of commands, which is why you want to enslave the humans.”

“Operating theatres are fascinating places, Doctor.” Agnes’ hand trailed the gleaming white walls. “Bodies stripped bare. Reduced to a collection of parts. Vulnerable. Helpless. Just like you are now. You won’t stop me again.”

“Again,” the Doctor repeated. “Who are you? What are we doing here?”

“I want you to watch, as the Earth is surrendered. I want you to taste failure, drown in it.” Agnes was nearly purring. She ran her hand over one of the Ice Soldiers. “Humans are such base creatures. Motivated by base needs. Food. Sex. Fighting. Marking their territory.”

“Hey, I resemble that remark.” Jack quipped but quieted when Agnes stared daggers at him. So she wasn’t human, Rose thought, or she wasn’t anymore. 

“I intend to elevate humanity through a higher purpose. Unified towards a single goal,” Agnes said. “With my guidance, humanity will transcend its base urges. The surface of Earth will be transformed, not with ice, but with shipyards. A massive armada, securing Earth’s-and-mine-place in the Universe.’

“Oh, you’re one of those,” The Doctor said. “Claiming you’re so intelligent you have everyone’s best interests in mind, the great—” she gasped. “Oh, of course. I should have seen it!”

“What is it?” asked Rose. 

“I knew I’d seen this before. The unmelting ice, just like the snowmen in Victorian London.” She pointed to Agnes. “That is The Great Intelligence!”

Agnes-or rather, the Great Intelligence—threw her head back, laughing. “About time you figured it out, Doctor.”

“It’s a possession,” the Doctor explained to her friends. “The Great Intelligence has no body of its own but takes over others. Uses them for its purposes.” 

“Agnes was a willing vessel.” The woman’s voice changed. It was deeper, almost demonic. “She possessed the knowledge to create automatons. But she subscribed to a system that threw her away. I gave her purpose.” 

“How did you get out of prison?” The Doctor demanded of Agnes. “It was time-locked. Nobody could escape. I should know, I put you there myself.”

Agnes looked uncertain, but only for a moment. “The timelock was undone.”

“How?”

“I took my opportunity and escaped.” She held her head high. “Re-created my work. Soldiers are more menacing than snowmen, aren’t they? They will never melt, not even in the hottest of suns.”

“Unmeltable. But not unstoppable.” The Doctor whipped out her sonic and pointed it at one of the machines at the wall. The Ice Soldiers shattered into pieces, leaving mounds of ice where they stood.

Agnes looked around in horror. “What did you do?!” she screeched.

“Ultrasound. Modified the frequency to shatter ice.” The Doctor took a quick scan of one of the ice piles before running towards the double swinging doors. “Come on team, let’s move!”

Agnes charged towards them, fury and determination, but Rose was quicker. Rose grabbed one of the equipment carts and shoved it towards Agnes, knocking her over.

“Bet it’s wishing it chose a buffer body.” Jack grinned. He scooped up two of the guns from the destroyed Soldiers, throwing one to Martha. He gestured to the double doors. “Ladies first!”

—  
“Keep running! There’s bound to be more Ice Soldiers!” the Doctor panted as they raced down the hospital corridor.

“It’s always running with you, isn’t it, Doctor?” Jack struggled to keep up. “What’s our next move?”

As if on cue, they heard the clinking of Ice Soldiers from around the corner. “And here come the reinforcements. Everyone, in here!” The Doctor gestured to a supply closet, opening the door with her sonic. 

Rose was the last one in the closet, which was barely big enough for the four of them. She found herself squished in between the Doctor and the wall, shoulders pressed together. She hoped nobody noticed her breath hitch. The Doctor was pressed against her, touching her. Warmth spread through her, and she didn’t know if it was from the contact or being stuck in a stuffy closet. Sweat began to trickle down her back. In the light from the slit of the window, she caught Jack, grimacing as he was pushed against shelves that lined the walls. 

The Doctor spoke in a low voice. “Agnes is using this building for her headquarters. Whatever she’s using to freeze the water, create the Ice Soldiers, it’s here. I took a reading from the destroyed one in the operating theatre, and I should be able to pinpoint the source. We wait here until the Soldiers pass. Then we follow the sonic.” She paused for breath. “Rose, you’re closest to the window. Watch for them. Be careful not to be seen.”

Rose repositioned herself, stepping around the Doctor to get to the narrow strip of window in the door. It was a little higher than her line of vision, and she had to stand on tiptoe to see. The Doctor was pressed against her back now, and she was all too aware of the contact. Warm breaths on the back of her neck. Her fingertips on the back of her trouser legs. She couldn’t think about that now. She needed to watch the Ice Soldiers. There were was a formation of six, in two neat rows, standing side by side. She ducked when they looked in the closet’s direction. Carefully peeking through the window again, she saw them begin to march forward.

She was interrupted by her phone ringing. She fumbled for it in her pocket, frantic to shut it off. Mum had to call, didn’t she? Mortified, she put the phone on silent, hoping the Ice Soldiers hadn’t heard. She peered out the window again, hoping the Ice Soldiers hadn’t heard. She let out a sigh of relief as she caught the last two marching past them. One of them slowed. _Please, please don’t let them catch us._

Then they picked up the pace and caught up with their fellow Soldiers as it disappeared from sight. 

“Clear,” she whispered, and the four of them spilled out into the corridor. The Doctor read her sonic. “We need to get to the stairway. Think it’s a few floors up. She gestured an exit sign at the end of the hallway. “This way!”

—  
The ice generator happened to be on the twelfth floor, in what was the hospital’s IT department. Everyone except the Doctor was panting by the time they got to the top of the stairs. The large, silver box in the center of the server racks was a dead giveaway.

“It’s a variation of the Contosh box,” The Doctor started sonicing, disarming the internal traps. “Instead of redirecting a broadcast, it sends out a signal, in this case, molecular signals. Transforming water. They must have used a rapid automaton generator to create the robots—”

“Doctor, less talking, more saving the world!” interrupted Jack. He was still trying to catch his breath. “The Ice Soldiers are going to be converging on this place any minute. Can you fix it?”

She scrunched her nose, putting a hand on either side of the box. “I need to reprogram the box. But it’s going to take a while.”

“We need to block those doors," Jack said. The entrance doors were full-length glass, with gold lettering etched at eye level. “They’re not going to hold for long.”

Jack started pushing a desk in front of the doors. Rose and Martha helped, pushing another desk and the largest chairs they could find. Rose leaned against the desk, sweat dripping down her forehead, adrenaline surging through her. This would hold them off. It had to. She looked back at the Doctor, who was bent over the Contosh box. She’d opened the interface and was rerouting wires. “Anything you need help with?”

“Just need to concentrate.” The Doctor didn’t look up. “Keep a lookout.”

Rose ducked to look under the desk, which had been propped up against the wall on its side. Her heart leaped when she caught a glimpse of a trio of Ice Soldiers steadily marching down the hallway. “They’re here!” 

Martha and Jack rushed to the door. Jack braced himself against one of the desks. “We need to hold the furniture in place. Keep it from moving."

“Wish this hospital had sprung for something better than particleboard furniture.” Martha pushed on the other, keeping her right hand low, in easy reaching distance of the gun she’d shoved into her waistband. Rose pushed with her against the door, as the banging started, then grew longer, more pronounced, angrier. The door was starting to give way. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold it shut.

“What if they start shooting at us?” Martha asked.

“We shoot back!” Jack called to the Doctor. “Doc, how’s it coming?”

“Almost there!” she shouted. “Need to reverse the polarity of the water molecules!”

Rose put all of her focus into keeping the door shut, trying not to worry. The Doctor was bang-on under pressure, but that didn’t ease her fear about being on the other side of the door from homicidal ice robots. The Ice Soldiers kept slamming into the door. Where they slamming themselves, or had they found something to use as a battering ram? She couldn’t tell. She only knew they were stronger and harder with every push. Her arms ached. Judging by Martha and Jack’s pained expressions, theirs did too. She just needed to hang on a little longer, a few more seconds…

Then the doors went flying open. The three humans were thrown backward, taking reeling steps as the Ice Soldiers threw the remaining furniture out of the way. They aimed their guns…

And fired…

“Got it!” The Doctor shouted. A crackling through the air, a whiff of ozone, and the Ice Soldiers halted, surfaces already beginning to glisten on their way to melting. 

But Rose didn’t notice. 

She was too focused on the burning hot in her lower abdomen, spreading through her. Wooziness overcame her like she’d eaten a bad meal. She put her hands to her stomach, feeling something wet and sticky, and looked down.

To see the bullet wound, gushing with blood.

Time slowed down as Rose dropped to the floor, blood seeping through her clothes, spreading in a pool on the flawless white tile, overcome with pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Kangbashi District “Abandoned City” is a real place, though as of this writing (late 2020) it’s at about 20-30% capacity. I needed a setting that wasn’t yet another empty warehouse or abandoned factory. I thought China’s abandoned cities would make a cool setting for a fic. The fully built city where nobody lives, with uniform drab high rises gives it an eerie feel.
> 
> Can ultrasound actually shatter ice? Yes, if the waves are intense enough and the ice is thin enough. A thin sheet would be ideal. An ultrasonic wave strong enough to destroy the Ice Soldiers would have also done a lot of other damage, so it’s not accurate. But it’s got a shred of plausibility. More so than an extradimensional time traveling police box :) 
> 
> As for reversing the polarity of water molecules....sorry. I couldn't pass it up! :)


	15. The Icemen of Mongolia (IV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In our last chapter...
> 
> The Doctor has stopped The Great Intelligence and the Icemen, but not before Rose is shot. 
> 
> A bit more blood.

“Rose!” The Doctor was kneeling above her in seconds. “No, no, no!” Frantic, she ripped off her coat and pressed it against Rose’s abdomen with both hands.

“Ugghhh” Rose groaned in response. The Doctor’s hard push against her stomach multiplied the pain times ten. She focused on the Doctor, hands pushed against her wound, looking like she was already mourning. 

“Shhh, shhh, I know. Martha!” she shouted. She found Rose’s limp hand and squeezed it. The Doctor’s hand felt warm against her skin. A bad sign. The Doctor’s skin always felt cool. Which meant her temperature was dropping. 

“I’m sorry,” she said. The weakness of her voice surprised her. Was she dying, right now? “Won’t make it to Yetreon after all.”

“Don’t be daft. You’ll be up and running before you know it.” From the Doctor’s worried expression, she was saying it as much to assure herself. Blood was everywhere, spattered on the Doctor’s white shirt, covering her hands, all over the floor. The room took on a coppery scent.

She turned her head away, not wanting to see the blood, and saw Jack.

Spread out on the floor.  
Lifeless eyes staring back at her.  
Dread creeping over her.   
Poor Jack. 

The Doctor looked grave as she let go with one hand, and fumbled in her pocket, producing the sonic. 

A wave.  
A groan.  
Crystal pillars forming around her.   
Back in the TARDIS. She was home. She was safe.   
She wasn’t safe  
(Why did she think she was safe?)

Then Martha was at her side, and she heard clatter of metal and barking of orders. Hands all over her body, the pinch of needles and the smell of antiseptic. Metal. Some kind of burning in her gut, but it was welcome because she was cold, so cold, like the Ice Soldiers themselves. A tense, half-shouted conversation above her:

“…pulse is thready…”  
“...why I don’t like guns?”  
“…not the one who shot her…”  
“…going into shock…”  
“…sickbay, now.”

She felt herself being lifted, and then set down again. She must be on the exam bed. When she opened her eyes, she found the world had taken on a grey haze, the Doctor and Martha in frenetic but orchestrated action, grabbing instruments and bags of medicine. She tried to move but her limbs wouldn’t obey her. She thought of Jack, dead on the TARDIS floor. Mum, who’d never know what happened to her only daughter. Why hadn’t she called Mum back? Why hadn’t she told Mum the truth about where she was going? 

Regret surged through her as her vision dimmed. She closed her eyes, fighting off a flicker of anxiety. 

“Rose, hold on.” The Doctor sounded desperate. “Please.” She bent down and kissed her forehead.

Warmth surged through her, and she vaguely heard something about her heart rate picking up. Rose was surprised at how peaceful she felt. She clung to the memory of that kiss, the feel of the Doctor’s lips against her skin, as she drifted into unconsciousness.

—

Rose slowly opened her eyes to a plain white ceiling and a dull ache in her gut. With a great effort, she sat up. She was in a small but tidy room, one she didn’t recognize. A nightstand, desk, and chair were the only other furnishings. No pulsing of the TARDIS energy, no hum beneath the floor. _I’m not in the TARDIS anymore. Where am I?_. She tried to swing her legs over the side, but pain shot through her. She groaned, collapsing on the pillow. 

“Oh good, you’re up.” Martha came into the room. She looked haggard, hair strewn in every direction. Dark circles were under her eyes. “How are you feeling?”

“Awful,” she croaked. “Where am I?”

“Torchwood safe house. We use it when we have aliens we need to keep out of sight. We’re in a flat complex in London. We brought you here after your treatment, to give you a chance to recover,” Martha explained. “I removed the bullet and we used nanobots to repair the damage to your organs. You’ll be fine.”

Rose's fingers trailed along her nightshirt, where the bullet had gone through. Through the thin fabric, she felt a slight ridge along her stomach, a few inches in length.

“Microsutures,” Martha said proudly. “Perfect technique, if I do say so myself. The scar will barely be noticeable. Dissolvable, so you don’t need them removed, but you’ll need to rest a few more days.” 

She nodded in understanding. More days? “How long was I out?”

“Almost twenty-four hours. You gave us quite a scare.”

“Where’s the Doctor?”

“She and Jack are redoing the Time Lock, so the Great Intelligence doesn’t get out again,” Martha said. “I almost feel sorry for Agnes. The Doctor was furious when she left. She’s scary when she’s angry.”

The image of Jack’s body flashed through her mind. “Jack is all right?” She said in confusion.

Martha grinned. “He’s perfectly fine. There was this thing that happened to him when he was traveling with the Doctor. I don’t know how, but he looked into the heart of the TARDIS and it made him immortal. The Doctor tried to take it out of him, but it didn’t work. He’s been shot, stabbed, set on fire, buried alive, blown up. He can’t die. I can’t tell you how convenient that is when you have aliens trying to destroy you every week.” 

“I should call the Doctor. At least leave her a message,” Rose said.

“Yeah, maybe we should talk about that.” Martha sat down on the bed, careful not to bump against Rose. “You shouldn’t get too attached.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry I’m the one who has to tell you this. God knows she won’t. ” Martha gave her a pointed look. “You’re in love with her, but you shouldn’t be.”

“No, don’t be daft. I’m not in love with her.” Rose shook her head as vigorously as she could manage. It all felt far too personal to discuss them with someone else. Especially someone she didn’t know that well.

“Rose, it’s written all over you. How you look at her. How you lit up when I mentioned her. And when you were unconscious you kept saying her name.”

Her cheeks flushed red, as her heart sank. “Oh, no…” If she was that obvious….

“It’s okay, it happens. It’s easy to fall in love with the Doctor. They sweep in, showing you the expanse of the universe. But the Doctor can’t love you back. Not the way you want her to.” Her voice broke as she looked away.

Understanding dawned on her. Martha had been in love with the Doctor. Or maybe she still was. “Is that why you left the TARDIS?”

“Yeah.” She sounded shaky. “He didn’t even notice how I felt. I did everything for him. And he didn’t even notice me. Didn’t even cross his mind. The Doctor can be a little daft like that. Worked out okay though. I wouldn’t want to be with her, now. No offense.”

“None taken.” Rose tried not to dwell on her disappointment that she'd never be more to the Doctor than a friend. “D’you think there’s any possibility?”

Martha gave her a plaintive smile. “There was this thing that happened when we were traveling. The Doctor turned himself human and he fell in love with this woman, Joan. But he wasn’t himself, he was this character the TARDIS created for him. Guess you take the Time Lord out, he can fall in love.” 

“What happened with Joan?”

“He gave her his clone,” Martha said. “A human clone, with one heart, one lifetime. It’s not something he can do normally, it was a one-time thing. He said Joan was a nurse, could take care of him. Suppose she was good for that.”

“You didn’t like her, I take it.” She suspected there was more than jealousy at play.

“She told me I was too stupid and black to practice medicine.”

“She didn’t! That’s terrible!” 

“It was terrible. And the Doctor was like ‘Humans are too caught up in each other’s differences, Martha.’ As if I didn’t know that already.” She sighed in exasperation. “But this isn’t about Joan. It’s about you, and your future. You need to get out, before you fall too hard. Leave the TARDIS. We’d love to have you at Torchwood. You can keep working with aliens. But there’s one alien that’s off-limits.” 

The idea of leaving the Doctor made Rose’s stomach lurch, even more than the pain of her wound, even if there was no future for a relationship. And she was going to need a new job at some point. The library had probably fired her by now-in the rush to run off with the Doctor, she hadn’t even called to quit. She stared out the small, smudged window, into a colorless overcast sky. “The Doctor, traveling with her—everything is impossible and wonderful and incredible-like a fairy tale.” 

“Fairy tales don’t always end in happily ever after.” Martha was firm. “The longer you stay, the more you’ll languish. You deserve so much better than that. You’ll find someone else.” 

She didn’t want someone else. She couldn’t even think about someone else. Not while her insides were imploding. “I’ll think about it.”

That earned her a hopeful smile from Martha. “One more thing. I talked to your mum.” At Rose’s alarmed look, she added, “I told her you got food poisoning, and you were sleeping it off at my place. She wouldn’t stop calling. You should call her though. Mums worry.”

Rose spotted her phone on the bedside table. She had no idea what she was going to tell Mum. Her head ached, and the room was spinning. She leaned against the headboard, groaning. 

Martha reache out to touch her forehead. “Head hurt?”

“Yeah.” Head, stomach, heart. All of them had melded into one ache.

“You’re probably dehydrated. I’ll get you some water.” Martha got up gently. 

Rose was grateful for a moment by herself. She needed to mull over everything that had been said. “Any other words of advice, Dr. Jones?” 

Martha looked like she wanted to say something else, but shook her head. “I’ll be back in a minute. Get some more rest.” 

—  
It took Rose another day and a half before she felt up to calling Mum. She sat at the flat’s kitchen table while Martha made coffee.

“Rose! Where have you been?!” Mum sounded strained, frantic. “The other woman wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“Relax, Mum, I just got really sick. I’m better now.” Mostly better. She was still moving a little slowly, getting tired more easily. But she was out of bed, moving around the flat, and taking walks with Martha. 

“You should have gone to hospital if you were sick.”

“Martha would have taken me if I needed to go.”

Mum huffed. Rose knew that sound. It was the kind that said she thought she knew better than an actual doctor. Bur rather than dwell on it, Mum asked, “When are you coming home?”

Rose paused. Martha was watching her, eyebrows raised. She’d been mulling over her decision for the past day, going back and forth. Leaving the Doctor was, on the surface, a reasonable decision. She wouldn’t risk being rejected again. She wouldn’t let down her mother. She could have a new job at Torchwood that promised to be more riveting than her old one. 

But just the thought of the Doctor was enough to make her heart flutter, and leaving her made her insides ache all over again.

“I’m not. Not now. Soon. I’m going traveling.” She spoke in a single breath before Mum could protest. The Doctor’s name teetered on the edge of her lips, but she didn’t dare mention the woman Mum thought of as an eccentric stranger. “There’s a whole world out there, and I want to see it.” Worlds, but Mum didn’t need to know that.

Mum wasted no time protesting. “Rose, you can’t do that! You’ve got responsibilities here. What about your job?”

“I asked for a leave of absence.” Mum would be doubly mad if she found out she’d been fired. 

“How are you paying for all this traveling? I’m not paying off your credit cards again!”

“Mum, I’m splitting the cost with some mates. It’ll be fine. I’ll bring you back something.” Rose could imagine Mum in person, her anger coming off her in waves. There was no reasoning with her in this state. “I have to go. I’ll call you from the road, yeah? Love you.” She ended the call before Mum could respond. 

Martha handed her a mug of coffee. “The TARDIS should be here soon. Went that well, huh?” There was a note of sympathy in her voice. 

“Something like that,” Rose admitted.

“At least your Mum didn’t slap the Doctor.” While staying here, Rose and Martha had shared some of her stories of traveling in the TARDIS with each other. It had been good to have someone to talk to, who had stood in her shoes, even though she’d walked in a different direction. 

“So you’re going.” Martha stirred sugar into her coffee, staring down into it. Rose had expected disapproval, but there was only a quiet frustration.

“I have to.” Rose was firm. “Don’t ask me to change my mind.”

“I won’t. But think about what I said,” Martha said. 

She already had. Many times over. It wasn’t just her feelings she was worried about. The Doctor needed someone to look after her. “By the way, when you traveled with the Doctor, did he get headaches?”

“Only when he hit his head on something. Which happened more than you’d think.” There was a glint of amusement in her eyes. “Why?”

“She gets these, I don’t know, spells, with these terrible headaches. Any guesses to what’s causing them?”

Martha pursed her lips. “No. There’s so much we don’t know about Time Lord physiology. I could look at our databases at Torchwood, see if anything comes up.”

“That’d be great, thanks,” Rose said. Then, she caught a faint groan of the TARDIS engines and brightened as the TARDIS appeared, materializing in the flat’s kitchen. 

The Doctor emerged with a soft smile. “Rose, hi.” Coming up to her, she gave Rose a gentle hug. She was all tension as if she was holding herself back from squeezing too tightly. Rose inhaled her scent-metal and cinnamon and if she wasn’t mistaken, some type of wild animal. The hug was warm, caring, and over far too soon. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better. Martha took great care of me.” 

“She’s good at that.” The Doctor shot a knowing glance in Martha’s direction. “Still want to stop at home?”

“No, think I’m good. Looking forward to getting back out there.” 

“Would have been back a lot sooner, but got caught up in a few things. It involved possums and a ring galaxy and the Shadow Proclamation. I already dropped off Jack at the Hub. Martha, do you need a lift back?”

“No thanks. I don’t want to end up in the 14th century.” Martha smirked. “Hubby’s going to pick me up. He’s on his way.” 

“Wonderful. We best be off then. Say hi to Mickey for me.”

“Doctor?” Martha arched an eyebrow. “My husband’s name is Tom. You’ve met him. Several times.”

“Tom! I knew that.” the Doctor looked genuinely flabbergasted. “Sorry, forgetting things in my old age. Take care, Martha Jones.” 

“Thank you for everything.” Rose hugged Martha. In her ear, Martha whispered. “Call me if you need to.” 

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was still muttering to herself. “Tom. I knew it was Tom. Why did I say Mickey?” 

Rose tried to remember if she’d ever mentioned Mickey, her ex, to the Doctor. She didn’t know why it would come up. She wondered if the name confusion was related to the headaches. But any thoughts of Mickey or headaches faded when she took in those bright eyes and high cheekbones, the jut of collarbone peeking out from the Doctor’s shirt. Rose didn’t realize how much she’d missed her in such a short time. 

“What are you staring at?” the Doctor peered at her. She didn’t sound annoyed, only curious. 

_You._ But she thought of Martha’s warning, and skirted around the subject. “You hugged me.”

“Yeah. Glad to see you’re okay.”

Is that all it was? She clung to a sliver of hope. “I thought you didn’t do hugs.”

“Might be warming up to them.” She looked down at the console, avoiding eye contact with her. But there was something else she couldn’t read, something troubling her.

“How did it go with the Great Intelligence?” she asked.

The Doctor’s expression turned grim. “I was able to get it contained again. Except for one thing. When I examined the Time Lock, it wasn’t broken, so much as it was…disintegrated.”

Rose remembered the words of the Remnant on Desolation-the Disintegrator.

_The Disintegrator will rise.  
Galaxies torn apart.   
Planets will burn.   
Billions dead.   
_

The Doctor paced around the console room, looking pensive. “What if it’s all connected? The timequake on Estragon. Axe’s missing moon. The Time Lock on the Great Intelligence. Different places, different times. Something—or someone--is tearing apart the universe at its seams.”

“How? And why? And can we stop them?” Rose watched the Doctor as she paced. Her gaze flitted around, not focusing on any one thing, as if finding the Disintegrator was as easy as looking around the console room. The Doctor was worried. 

“I don’t know. But we need to try before they destroy the universe. Ready?” Stopping in front of the console, the Doctor grabbed the lever. 

“Of course.” And she was. The moment she stepped into the TARDIS, she knew she’d made the right decision. She didn’t care if the Doctor never gave her a second look, as long as she could be here, with her, and for her. The TARDIS took off, and the engines throbbed in a steady rhythm that matched the beat of her pulse. Pounding out the message of her heart.

_I love you, Doctor._  
I love you.  
I love you. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Martha is the Doctor’s token straight friend :P
> 
> Of course, this means Nine tried to get the Time Vortex out of Jack by snogging him. Fact. I don’t make the rules.
> 
> We're about halfway through the fic in terms of episodes, not necessarily in world count or chapters. If you've read this far, thank you!
> 
> Next up: The Desideratum Asteria


	16. The Desiderium Asteria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In pursuit of the Disintegrator, the Doctor and Rose board a luxury space cruiser, in which they come face to face with their most formidable opponent:
> 
> Tropes. Dozens of tropes. We've got all the tropes here, baby!

Rose caught the scent of dust and motor oil as she stepped out of the TARDIS into a dark, cavernous room. Long rows of shelving with neatly stacked boxes towered over her. If she didn’t feel the vibration of spaceship engines under her feet, she’d swear she’d stepped into a warehouse. 

“Got the wrong place again?” she teased the Doctor, who was coming out of the TARDIS behind her. “Doesn’t look like much of a cruise ship.”

“We’re in the cargo hold. Fuel and ships are expensive. The cruise line makes extra money by bringing along a bit of mail.” She leaned against the TARDIS and closed her eyes for a brief moment, but not so brief her companion didn’t notice. Her exhaustion was worrisome. They’d been, all over the universe in the past few weeks, one stop after another. No longer leisurely tourists, but with a mission, a purpose, looking for signs of the Disintegrator. Which was why they were on board (hopefully) one of the finest space cruise ships in history.

They’d just spent three days on Kalkor rescuing trapped ore miners, when the mineshafts crumbled, burying the miners alive. They'd worked, along with the locals, to reach the miners. When the Doctor learned the miners were essentially slaves, her furor reached new heights. The king had fought back, and they’d barely escaped with their heads attached. Even before that, the Doctor seemed run-down. Rose noticed every movement, every expression. The quickly plastered, fake smiles. The eyes cast downward. She suspected it was not only the pace, but the headaches. They’d increased in both frequency and intensity in the past week. She’d caught the Doctor bent over, hands on her temples, a few times when she didn’t realize she was looking. She was hiding a lot of the pain. She’d also been in and out of Sick Bay, trying different medications, but nothing helped. 

When they’d detected unusual activity from this ship, the _Quicksilver_ , the Doctor had perked up, eager as a child on Christmas morning. The _Quicksilver_ was a three month voyage, with multiple planetary ports. Picking up and dropping off passengers at each stop, while flying past cosmic phenomena. The Disintegrator could have boarded at any point. 

The Doctor scanned an info panel on the wall with the sonic. “Complement of over 1200. How do we find the Disintegrator? The ship is too big to be everywhere at once.”

“I have a suggestion. What if we pose as passengers? It would keep the Disintegrator off her guard. If she knows we’re coming after her, she may run. Or do something foolish.” Rose put on her warmest smile. She had an ulterior, though non-sinister motive: get the Doctor to rest. She’d faltered a few times on Kalkor. She was stressed out and overburdened by this chase, even if she wouldn’t admit it. Rose would do anything to take away her pain, her exhaustion, and the opportunity had presented itself when they’d gotten a temporal fluctuation here. If she couldn’t give the Doctor her love, she could give her care.

The Doctor thought for a moment, scrunching her nose. “That could work. I like it.” Her smile was earnest, eager. 

Rose breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m going to grab my duffel bag. Make it look like we just boarded. We can’t be coming in and out of the cargo bay though.”

“What if it’s really, really necessary?” The Doctor touched the side of the police box, giving it a longing look.

“A lap on the skating rink is not really, really necessary, Doctor,” Rose smirked. Seriously, the Doctor would find something in the TARDIS to tinker with, and then she’d spend the whole time in there. She needed to relax, even if it was just for a night. 

—

In contrast to the cargo bay, the greeting hall was the definition of luxury. Rose felt her shoes sinking into the lush red carpet. Ornate wooden carvings covered the walls. High overhead, a chandelier hung from the ceiling. She counted at least six different species milling about, all talking and laughing over champagne. Robots, the height of her knee, whizzed by with hors d’ourves on silver trays. In her t-shirt and black trousers, she felt underdressed. 

The Doctor studied her, eyebrows slightly furrowed. “Haven’t seen you look like that since we went to that ruby planet. Is that a good sign?”

“This looks amazing.” 

“Wait until you see the main ballroom. And the observation deck. That’s the top deck, all glass. You can see meteors, light showers, nebulas, everything.” 

Rose was a little self-conscious as they walked through the hall. The other passengers kept staring at them. The Doctor pointed out a few species, and some of the food, rambling in-depth about each subject with ease. Rose hung on to every word. The Doctor had a way of making any subject sound fascinating, both with her knowledge and her enthusiasm, and it made her that much more…desirable. 

Yes, that was the word, though she tried not to think of it now. The Doctor occupied her thoughts as much as whatever planet they were on. If she were being honest, even more so. But any attempts to flirt with the Doctor went straight over her head, much to Rose's disappointment. 

While walking through the greeting hall, they were approached by a woman with skin the color of a robin’s egg, and red hair in a single braided coil on top of her head. A gold lapel pin affixed to her plain but well-fitted dress identified her as a member of the crew. 

“Hello there!” she gave them friendly but obviously performed.“My name is Elyria, and I’m your hostess on _Quicksilver_. Have you just boarded on Acanar?”

“Acanar, yes. Good planet. Sorry to leave,” The Doctor said. 

“Wonderful! Welcome aboard. I notice you’re not wearing ID bracelets. I can get you some once I check you in.” Her smile diminished, though it was still present. “Can I trouble you for your reservation?”

“No, not at all,” The Doctor said. To Rose, she whispered, “Psychic paper.”

“Oh, right. I’ve got our reservation” Rose had used it last on Kalkor, to pass herself off as a government official. She searched her pockets, trying to find it.

“Sorry I have to ask.” Elyria’s smile looked strained. “It’s just at some ports, we’ve had issues with stowaways. We just have to be sure.”

“No worries, we’re all official.” Rose forced a laugh. She handed the psychic paper to Elyria, who read it over. When she looked up, she was speechless, her cheeks glowing burnt orange.

“Everything all right?” The Doctor looked at her with concern.

“Oh, you haven’t met a Malbannion before, have you?” Elyria said. “Our skin color changes with emotion. And let me tell you, this,” she pointed to her cheek, “is joy, pure joy!”

The Doctor and Rose exchanged a look. Joy over a cruise reservation?

Elyria continued. “Doctor and Ms. Tyler, can I be the first aboard the _Quicksilver_ to say, congratulations on your recent marriage! We are delighted to have you aboard! On behalf of All-Star Cruise lines, let me thank you for choosing the _Quicksilver_ for your honeymoon.”

Rose felt her cheeks turning beet red. Marriage?! Honeymoon? The psychic paper had revealed a lot more than she intended. She’d expected Elyria to gape, or question them, the way same-sex couples (particularly women) were treated on Earth. But she was still beaming at them. Worse yet, what was the Doctor going to think? 

To her surprise, the Doctor brightened up and put an arm around Rose’s shoulders. “Yes, thank you so much! We’re just a little bit out of it, what with the wedding and all.”

For a moment, Rose forgot to breathe. _Is she passing herself off as my wife?_ She tried to interject, but her head was swimming. 

“It was a lovely ceremony.” The Doctor was still beaming at Rose. “Her mum cried through the whole thing. And the rice! Throwing rice at weddings should be banned. I’m still picking it out of my hair.”

“Doctor, stop.” Rose managed to get out, nudging her. If the Doctor wasn’t quiet, she’d say something wrong and blow their cover. 

“Ohh, someone’s feeling bashful,” Elyria teased.”Now, let me get you your wristbands.”

Rose barely noticed Elyria putting an iridescent bracelet on each of their wrists. She was too caught up in the closeness of the Doctor, breathing her in. She had to keep reminding herself it was just an act. But she’d give anything for it not to be.

“Wave these over the lockpad on your door to unlock them,” Elyria said. “You can also use them at any of our shops and services, and the cost will be automatically added to your room tab. If you push this button” she pointed to a metallic oval. “It will display a full map of the ship. You scroll through here to the different decks. And this one, next to it, will give you the ship time, weather, and next destination. We have three decks full of entertainment. Shopping, nightclubs, restaurants, not to mention racquetball courts. I’ll send a HopBot to get your things and take you to the honeymoon suite. It’s getting late. I’m sure you’ll want to get there right away,” she winked.

“Yes, we do. I want to see what kind of little shampoo bottles you have,” the Doctor said. 

Elyria gave her an odd look, followed by a forced laugh. “Enjoy your stay.”

The Doctor let go of Rose as soon as Elyria walked away, and she bit her lip in disappointment. For a moment, she expected the Doctor to be angry or suspicious, but she was all smiles.

“Nice work, Rose! The luxury of the _Quicksilver_ honeymoon suites is unmatched. Look! The HopBot is already here.” she pointed to a robot that resembled WALL-E, but with a flat, wide top. “Hello, HopBot! Take us to our room.” 

Rose set her duffel bag on the robot’s top, which rolled away. Still half-dazed, she picked up her pace to keep up with the HopBot. _It’s just a ruse, it doesn’t mean anything_. But it didn’t stop her from floating all the way to the suite.

—

The honeymoon suite was just as luxurious as the Doctor had said. The combined room and bathroom were nearly the size of her flat. A widescreen television half the size of the wall hung over the fireplace. Next to the fireplace was a mahogany table with red velvet chairs on either side, with an ice bucket with champagne.   
But there was another feature, one universal to honeymoon suites, that remained a sticking point in Rose's mind as they took a quick walk through the observation deck and the main gathering areas:

There was only one bed.

It was a huge bed, stacked with pillows and a duvet Rose could imagine sinking into. No doubt it would be incredibly restful to sleep in. But sleep wasn’t what was on her mind. 

Back in their suite, Rose stared at the bed like it was the enemy, wondering what she should do. Maybe insisting on leaving the TARDIS in the cargo hold wasn’t such a good idea. Maybe the Doctor would get a burst of energy and not want to sleep tonight. She didn’t sleep much. But she hadn’t slept the entire time they’d been on Kalkor, and she looked so tired. 

The Doctor emerged from the bathroom, her hands full of tiny plastic bottles. “Eight different types of shampoo. And,” she added with a dramatic flourish. “There’s chocolates by the sink.” Setting down the shampoo bottles, she reached into her pockets and pulled out three intricate flower shapes. “Want one?”

“Doctor, no!” she was horrified. “Those are soaps!” 

“Hmm, that explains the flavor. Distinct lack of theobromine,” she shrugged. “You should see the tub. Good size for a bubble bath. I love a bubble bath.” 

“Do you want to take one?” Rose asked. 

“Maybe later. Let’s see how the bed is.” She draped her jacket over the chair arm and fell backwards on the bed. “Very comfy. I like it.” She yawned. “Hope you don’t mind, think I’m gonna lay down for a bit. You coming?”

Of course, this would be one night she would actually use the bed.

“I don’t want to impose.” Rose looked away as if the solution to her problem would be written on the flawless gold damask wallpaper.

“Don’t be daft.” The Doctor eyed her curiously. “This was your idea. You should try this bed.” 

“Sure, okay.” She tried to sound casual “Just gonna get changed and all that.” 

Rose grabbed her duffel bag and slammed the bathroom door behind her, taking deep breaths to calm herself. _It’s no big deal. You’re just going to sleep._

She was going to sleep with the Doctor.

She felt a rush down her spine. No, she wasn’t going to sleep with the Doctor…or maybe she was? The Doctor had insisted on inviting her to bed. She could be enigmatic, but at the same time oblivious. 

Rose took so long brushing her teeth even her dentist would have told her to stop. She lamented her choice of sleepwear, cotton pajama pants and a tank top. She checked herself out in the full-length mirror. Would the Doctor find it cute? Sexy? She wished briefly she’d brought lingerie, and cursed herself for thinking of it. Blokes loved that sort of thing, but did women? Not to mention if the Doctor did want to do something, she didn’t have experience. What if she did it badly, or flat out wrong? She must be the worst bisexual ever. 

“Everything okay in there?” called the Doctor. She sounded half-asleep.

“Yeah, just checking out the tub. You’re right, it’s great.” The sunken marble tub was easily big enough for two people. _Don’t think about her in the bath. Don’t think about being with her in the bath._ Were her cheeks ever going to stop flushing?

The Doctor gave her a gentle, half-lidded grin when she came out of the bathroom. She was still on top of the duvet but otherwise was fully dressed. Rose wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. She chewed her inner lip. “Not changing?” 

“Don’t see the point in it. Why use a separate set of clothes just for sleeping?” the Doctor said. “Besides, this will save me loads of time when I get up.” 

Rose shook her head. “Can you at least take off your boots?”

“Must I?”

“Yes!” Her love for the Doctor did not extend to sleeping on dirtied sheets.

The Doctor did so as she pulled back the covers and got into bed. The white, sheets were cool and crisp. She positioned herself so she was at least an arm’s length away from the Doctor, too nervous to come closer. 

“Room, lights.” The Doctor announced. The overhead lights dimmed accordingly so that their surroundings were barely visible. The Doctor looked back at her, crinkles forming around her eyes. There was still a spark to them, even in her exhaustion. “This was an excellent idea. Don’t know how I can thank you.” 

_I can think of some ways_. She thought of the Doctor’s cool, smooth skin pressed against her own, soft lips on hers, hands roaming down her back and to…she couldn’t go there. Not now. “Sure, no problem,” Her voice quivered as she edged closer.

The Doctor’s expression changed slightly, unreadable. “Just thinking about the last time I was on a ship like this. Suppose it’s a bad time to mention it crashed into a planet?”

“Umm, yeah. Did you crash it?” She laughed, too fast and too high. Even so, it helped Rose feel normal to banter with her.

But the Doctor didn’t respond in kind. She turned somber. “It was also the last time I was with my wife.”

Rose’s stomach dropped. Of anything that could have happened tonight, that was the farthest from what she expected. “You’re married?”

“Was. A long time ago.” Her expression took on a faraway look. “She didn’t let me sleep in my boots either.” 

“Oh. But Martha said--” she quickly caught herself. Her conversation with Martha should be private, for both their sakes. “—you weren’t really the type. To get married, I mean.”

“She didn’t know River. I met her later.” The Doctor looked wistful, not overly pained, but a sadness had crept over her.

Rose’s head was spinning, both with disappointment and concern. She felt awful for the Doctor, but also for herself. But also there was a flash of curiosity, to know more about the woman who had enchanted the Doctor. “Was she a Time Lord?”

“Sort of. Everything with River was complicated.” The Doctor let out a sigh. “She was a professor of archeology. Could fly the TARDIS even better than I could, and don’t ever tell anyone I said that. We kept meeting out of order-never knew where she was coming from, but it didn’t matter because the sparks always flew. She could walk into a room and command it immediately. No prison could hold her. She was…incredible.” 

Normally, Rose would have been delighted to learn more about the Doctor’s past. But tonight, she slumped back into the stack of voluminous pillows. The name rung in her ears- _River_ -like an annoying song stuck in her head. She felt like a fool. How could she have ever thought the Doctor would want her? 

“I’m sorry. That must be hard.” Rose sounded almost mechanical, looking away from the Doctor. 

“Thank you.”

“If I can ask—how did she die?”

“Saving me.” Something, perhaps the intimacy of the dimmed room, kept the Doctor talking. “Which she did, so many times over.”

Every word was a dagger in her heart. Rose rolled over, facing towards the wall. “Think I’m going to get some sleep. Good night.”

“Good night.” A few minutes later, Rose heard gentle snoring. She stared at the ceiling, willing herself to sleep, to put distance between her and this night. But she replayed the Doctor’s words about her wife over and over until she finally drifted off to sleep. 

—

A short while later, the Doctor woke up.

She let her vision adjust to the warm light of the room. Dim lights were on at all times, as a safety feature. Since the cabin windows faced out into space, the cabins would be in complete darkness, a potential safety hazard. She liked that. The TARDIS could use more safety features. She’d have to ask for that, the next time her ship decided to redecorate. 

She’d been asleep for four hours. She must have been more knackered than she thought. She hadn’t slept that much at once since she first regenerated. Outside the window, the stars were glittering specks against a velvet backdrop. She gazed at them, wondering how many she’d visited. She wasn’t entirely sure where they were, but she could pick out some constellations. Muusad. The Dragon. 

Her gaze fell to Rose, still asleep. The duvet covered her like a snowfall, leaving only her head visible. Her chin poked in the air, defiant as always. But there was something delicate about her, like a china doll.

She couldn’t have asked for a better companion. Rose had been traipsing around galaxies with her for weeks in search of the Disintegrator, never complaining. Who had such a big heart, and who always looked out for her, asking about her headaches, or, like tonight, making sure she _rested_. She’d never even groused about being shot. The Doctor squeezed her eyes shut at the thought. She’d been so careless. If anything had happened to her…

The Doctor had the urge to reach out and stroke her cheek, but stopped herself. 

Maybe she was lonely. She’d been thinking of River tonight, for the first time in a while. 

River wouldn’t have wanted her to be alone. 

She drew back. No. Best not to get involved with a human. The Doctor thought bitterly of the gunshot wound from the Ice Soldier again. Rose made a full recovery, but it served as a reminder of how fragile her human friends could be. It wasn’t as if Rose would like her in that way. Humans, around this time, had pretty rigid ideas about who they loved, and women stuck with men. There were always a few exceptions, like Bill. Or Tegan. Or Clara. The Doctor had gone through a great deal of trouble to keep her affair with Jane Austen out of the gossip columns.

The Doctor frowned, thinking of Rose’s dour mood when they’d gone to bed, and she wondered what that was about. It was right about the time she mentioned River, too. 

Oh, of course. She could be so thick. _Read the room, Doctor. Rose doesn’t want to hear about your dead wife._ How depressing, especially in such an opulent, pleasant setting. To be honest, she hadn’t expected to talk about River at all, but something in Rose made her want to open up, to confide, to be a better person. 

The Doctor sat up, swinging her legs over the bed. She was going to make it up to Rose. Show her a good time. Slipping into her boots, she left the suite, careful not to make too much noise. The _Quicksilver_ would have no more than a skeleton crew running the ship, but she’d make the most of it. She had work to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor, everyone, putting the idiot in "idiots to lovers".
> 
> Special thanks to Muusad and Dragon from Discord to helping with the science on this chapter. And Sol for suggesting the Doctor would get super excited over little shampoo bottles.


	17. The Desiderium Asteria (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aboard a luxury cruise spaceship, the Doctor and Rose are posing as a newlywed couple, and decide to take full advantage of the facilities aboard the ship, including a formal dinner and dance. But it's not a date. Or so they both claim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating last week. I decided to do some rewrites and time got away from me. Enjoy!

“Rose? Rose, wake up.”

The Doctor was standing over her, urgency in her voice. Her first thought was there was trouble on the ship. The Doctor rarely woke her up, which she appreciated, not being a morning person.

“What’s going on?” she shook the sleep out of her eyes. She was about to swing her legs out of bed, ready to move, when the Doctor held up a hand.

“Breakfast is here.” she gestured to a silver cart at the end of the bed. “Ordered a fruit plate, yogurt, and,” she added with a flourish, “pancakes. The kitchen didn’t know to make pancakes, so I had to show them. They had to make a few substitutions, and I had a cleaver thrown at me, but the result is bang on.”

Rose caught a whiff of maple syrup from the cart. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know about said substitutions, but she was hungry. “You didn’t have to do all that.” She pushed aside the duvet, but the Doctor again urged her to stay put. In a moment, she had a full tray at the side of the bed. The Doctor never brought her breakfast in bed. What was going on?

“Have a lot of fun things planned.” The Doctor buzzed around the room like a hummingbird. “Rose, I want you to take the day off and enjoy yourself. A proper holiday. I signed you up for a deluxe package at the ship spa. Full day of pampering. Got a pamphlet right there on the tray, explaining everything. I love a pamphlet. And…” She ran into the closet, coming out with a full rack of garment bags hanging from the rack. “I went back to the TARDIS to get clothes from the wardrobe. You’ll need them for tonight. Every week the ship has a formal dinner and dance. I brought ten dresses for you to choose from, and if you don’t like any of them, I can get more. Or we can buy one on the ship. When I say buy I mean charge it to the room, which we’re not paying for anyway, so it’s more a figure of speech. All-Star Lines will never miss it. Can I get you anything else?” 

“Did you have coffee again?” Rose raised an eyebrow. The Doctor was way too hyper, even by her usual standards.

“Coffee! That’s what I forgot!” She poured a steaming cup from the carafe on the cart. “Here, black. Just how you like it."

“What about the Disintegrator?” 

“I’m going to look for the Disintegrator on my own today. Check out the engine rooms, the bridge. Comb the ship. Already had a good look at the kitchen, but they asked me not to come back. More like told me not to, actually. If I need help, I’ll call you.” 

“Are you sure?” She felt a pang of disappointment. Maybe the Doctor thought she was a hindrance. 

The Time Lord must have seen her expression because she grabbed both of Rose’s hands in her own, giving her a reassuring smile. “Two of us will look even more suspicious skulking around than one of us. Keep our cover. Be a guest. Have fun!” 

“You’re going to relax for a bit too, right?” Rose glanced at the pamphlet. Mani-pedi, massage, Othapelian petal bath, whatever that was. For the things she recognized, she hadn’t done them since leaving Earth. Come with me to the spa.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” The Doctor looked down, shoving her hands in her pockets. “Not sure it’s for me.”

“Come on, it’ll be fun.” She gave a playful grin.

“Nah. Spa trip sounds like a lot of sitting still. Not my forte.” The Doctor’s gaze was to the side of her. “Besides, I need to make a trip to the tailor. Alterations for my outfit tonight.” She grabbed one of the garment bags and slung it over her arm. “See you later?”

“You got it.” She glanced at the garment bag the Doctor was clutching. She almost seemed protective of it. She couldn’t picture the Doctor in a dress. “What are you going to wear?”

“You’ll see.” She gave Rose a mischievous grin. 

“Can’t wait.” Knowing the Doctor, it was either amazing or ridiculous. Or both. She checked the schedule on her bracelet. The dinner and dance would start at seven. “Meet you back here at a quarter of seven?”

“It’s a date. Well, not a date. You know what I mean.” Sheepish, she backed out of the suite. “See you then.”

Rose paused, fork in mid-air, as she walked out. The Time Lord was always showing her things, looking out for her, but not like this. And now, formalwear and dinner? _It’s not a date, she even said so._ , she reminded herself. But it didn’t stop her heart from fluttering, and she had to take a moment to calm herself down. It may not be an actual date, but it should still be fun. As she ate, she checked the ship’s news and updates. The _Quicksilver_ would be approaching the Artemis asteroid belt over the next day. The pool was temporarily closed for cleaning. A stern reminder passengers were not allowed in the kitchen. Rose sighed. So much for the Doctor being inconspicuous by herself.

After breakfast, Rose went through the outfits the Doctor had picked out. All formal evening gowns. Some of them were too old-fashioned for her taste, but a few were more modern. She ended up choosing a floor-length, sleeveless gown with a slight flare to the hem. The dress was blue, close to the blue of the TARDIS, and a perfect fit when she tried it on, the scooped neckline accentuating her curves. The Doctor would like it on her, right? She shook her head. She was overthinking this. 

After taking off the dress, it occurred to Rose she didn’t have matching shoes, or any formal shoes, not even back on the TARDIS. Life as a time traveler had few opportunities to wear them. She’d have to take the Doctor’s suggestion and find some on the ship.

—  
The spa was on deck three, next to a lush display of exotic plants and flowers that provided an explosion of color along the metal walls. Even after picking out shoes, Rose was early for her appointment, so she wandered around a nearby shop to kill some time. The shelves were mostly stacked with souvenirs-holographic snow globes, shirts, and bins with polished rocks. Wherever you went in the universe, souvenir shops were mostly the same. 

A span of sparkling fabric caught her eye. A navy blue wrap hung from a display, with dots of glitter connected by silver thread that gleamed in the light. The threads and glitter made different shapes, like constellations. They weren’t any she recognized. The Doctor would not only know, but probably would have a long story to along with each of them. She felt the wrap between her fingers, smooth yet with exquisite softness. 

“Hello, miss.” A salesperson appeared at her side, hands behind was back. She was a humanoid species Rose didn’t recognize, with skin so pale it was almost translucent. Rose could see pulsating vessels at the surface, and tried not to stare at them. The nameplate on her lapel said Thali. “That’s a lovely choice. The Desiderium Asteria.”

“The what?” she asked.

Thali traced a slim finger along a thread. “It’s a group of ten constellations, one of the major asteria we’ll be passing on this voyage. Many centuries ago, the Malbannions sent out for their first intergalactic voyage, searching out new planets. It was a limited crew, for exploration and surveying, for a journey of fifteen years. Paving the way for new colonies, new civilizations. The hardest part for the crew was not the new terrain, not the deprivation, but longing for the ones they left behind. The people they loved.”

Rose thought of the Doctor's friends-the Corsair, Jack, Martha-that no longer traveled with her. Reluctantly, she included the Doctor’s late wife in that group. “Did they ever see their loved ones again?”

“Some did.” She gave Rose a plaintive smile. “Another crew, five years after the first. They quit careers, retrained, said goodbye to everything they knew, to go to an unknown world, where nothing was certain but love.” 

With that, Rose was sold. “I’ll take it.” 

Thali looked pleased. “Wonderful. Will you be paying in krin, or should we charge this to your room?”

“My room.” Rose held out her wrist. “I can’t wait to wear it. It’ll match my dress for the dinner tonight.” 

“It will look great on you.” Thali ran a black square over the bracelet until she heard a beep. “Are you here with somebody?”

“Um, yeah. My wife.” She hadn’t planned on saying it, but the words fell out of her. Even so, she couldn’t regret saying them. It sounded strange to her ears, as women having wives wasn’t a reality in her time. But she liked how Thali didn’t bat an eye. And she loved the way it sounded. _My wife_.

“All set.” Thali handed her the bag. “I hope you and your wife have a lovely time tonight.” 

On the way to the spa, Rose passed a mural, spanning the entire hallway. It was a sunset over a beach, luscious pink and orange sky, with the sun reflecting on the water’s surface. Small dunes overlapped on either side, giving the illusion of depth. The beach was no more real than the ship’s gravity but intricate enough that she wanted to step onto the sand. Nobody on the ship had to know she and the Doctor weren’t married, weren’t even together. Pretenses were for the people who needed them. And what was the harm?

—

Rose was just putting on her earrings in the suite bathroom when she heard the Doctor come into their room. They’d talked a few times by phone during the day. The Doctor had covered a good part of the ship with no signs of anything amiss. Rose had spent most of the day at the spa, getting her nails done, getting a massage, and then immersed in some sort of alien oil bath that did wonders for her skin. Later, she’d gone to one of the salons to have her hair done in a braided updo. All the while, Rose had told every attendant that she was on her honeymoon with her wife. They’d all warmly congratulated her, and asked about the wedding, in which she had to make up details on the fly. She’d immersed herself in the role of newlywed, she almost forgot they weren’t.

“Rose, are you in there?” the Doctor asked. She couldn’t tell if the Doctor sounded nervous, or just impatient.

“Yeah, be right out.” She gave herself a quick once-over, checking for any smudged makeup and pushing a few stray hairs behind her ear. She felt overexposed, even though her dress wasn’t overly revealing. She draped her wrap around her shoulders and stepped out of the bathroom.

To see the Doctor standing there, wearing a tux.

Rose tried not to gasp. It wasn’t what she expected, but it was perfect for her. A rust-red brace peeked through the open black jacket, pulled against a crisp white shirt. She was striking. She was...wearing trousers that were much too short.

She pointed to the Doctor’s legs, laughing. “What happened there?!” The trousers only came midway down her calf, leaving a few inches of leg exposed. 

“Might have not held still when the tailor was taking measurements,” the Doctor admitted. She touched the bow tie at her neck. “But I did remember how to tie a bow tie. It’s been a while since I wore one.” She gave Rose a wary look, cautious for approval. “Is it okay otherwise?” 

Okay was hardly the word. Short trousers aside, the tux made her look sophisticated, elegant. She swallowed hard, thinking of grabbing her by the braces and snogging her. If they stayed in the suite much longer, she’d be far too tempted to do it. Rose searched for the right words, before settling on, “Yeah. It suits you.” 

The Doctor looked her up and down, a slow sweep with her eyes. “That dress looks lovely on you. And I like that wrap.” Every word was measured out.

“Thanks.” She looked away, embarrassed but secretly pleased. “I picked it up in a shop. It’s one of the Desiderium Asteria. Are you familiar with it?” 

“Yeah. Been there several times. Are you ready?”

“Just need my shoes.” She stepped into the navy pumps she’d picked up earlier. The three-inch stiletto heels made her taller than the Doctor, which was disorienting. She always thought of the Doctor as larger than life. She glared down with disapproval at the Doctor’s choice of footwear, her usual old boots, though they’d been polished to a shine. “You’re not going to wear those, are you?” 

“Never know when I need to run.” The Doctor took her arm. “Shall we?”

An electric tingle went through Rose as they walked to the elevators, the Doctor’s hand on her bare arm. The Time Lord kept glancing over at her, and looked like she wanted to say something, but didn’t. The uncomfortable silence felt like first-date jitters, despite the Doctor’s insistence (and her own) it wasn’t a date.

“You’re quiet,” Rose said. “Everything all right?”

“Just thinking.” The Doctor gave her a quick but genuine smile. “ _Asteria_ is from Earth mythology. Ancient Greece. Asteria was the goddess of divination. Of prophecy.” 

The Remnants’ prophecy hung between them, striking Rose cold. Finding the Disintegrator was their true purpose here. But she didn’t want to think about that. She wrapped her arm around the Doctor’s, intertwining their fingers. She was dressed to the nines on a luxury cruise ship, with an incredibly striking non-date. There would be no alien invasions, no tears in time, or mysterious deaths tonight. She was sure of it.

She couldn’t have been more wrong. 

—

To say the ballroom was spectacular was a massive understatement. Rose craned her neck to look up at the ceilings, the height of which rivaled indoor arenas. Tables in delicate lace coverings lined the edges of the room, framing a dance floor. Perfectly clad servers zipped around with flutes of champagne. A stage was at one end, featuring a band playing peppy tunes. There had to be hundreds of passengers milling about, not to mention a handful of uniformed crew, but the ballroom’s ample size gave them room to spread out. Everything seemed to sparkle, from the fine gowns of the passengers to flecks of glitter encased in the dance floor in the center.

The Doctor was in a similar state of awe, but not over the ballroom. She was gawking at a tabled piled high with fruits. “Look! They have periberries! Haven’t had that in centuries!” Rushing over to the table, she grabbed a handful of berries the color of tiger lilies and shoved them in her mouth. 

Rose laughed. The Doctor might be dressed in finery, but she still acted like an overeager child. “How are they?”

“Delicious. Perfectly ripe, grown in nitrogen-rich soil. Here, try one.” She plucked a periberry from the stack and put it up to Rose’s mouth. When Doctor’s fingers brushed feather-light against her bottom lip, fruit was the furthest thing from her mind. 

“Um, yeah, that was good.” She forced herself to stay composed. The smooth flesh of the periberry had been full-bodied. Sweet, but not overly so. “Should we get a bowl?”

“For you? Anything.” She gathered a fist of periberries, dropping a few on the ivory tablecloth, and putting them in a glass dish. The crystal bowls of perfectly ripe, round fruits included a few she recognized from Earth-oranges, bananas, kiwi, and whole lemons. “Awful lot of lemons, isn’t it?”

“Some alien races love them. Eat them whole. Proved to be humanity’s strongest trading asset in this sector.” The Doctor grabbed another fist of periberries for herself, piling them high in the bowl. “Let’s find a place to sit.”

They found two open seats near the band. Along with a trio of humans, they were joined by a Trell, a creature that looked like a giant centipede, but was as warm and friendly as any species Rose had met. The Doctor wasted no time striking up a conversation, and before long, she and Rose were regaling the table with tales from their trips to different planets. The evening was a rush of glitter and laughter and wine, which Rose was careful to moderate. She didn’t want to be drunk. She wanted to be fully present for every sentence, every bite of food, and every time the Doctor’s hand brushed against hers, the latter of which was happening much more than usual. The Time Lord was wildly gesturing with her hands as she spoke, as she always did, but her hand would come to rest next to hers, sending a flutter through her stomach. The Doctor held her hand all the time, particularly when they were running from danger, but this felt different. More subtle. More intimate. As guests poured in, the ballroom grew warm, and she slung her wrap over her chair, feeling a breeze from the ventilation system pass over her bare shoulders. The Doctor had followed suit with her tuxedo jacket. Leaning back in laughter, the hollow of her throat peeked out from her collar. She had to make herself tear her eyes away. 

They were in mid-conversation when Rose saw Thali, the salesperson, approaching the table and directing her gaze directly at herself and the Doctor. She’d changed from a simple shift to a formal grey dress. She hadn't expected to see the staff here. 

“Good evening, Ms. Tyler!” She waved. “How are you enjoying dinner?”

“It’s great.” Her response was friendly but clipped. “Everything’s been great.” 

“Wonderful! The wrap looks perfect with your dress.” She took a seat at the table, gesturing to the Doctor. “And this must be your wife.” 

The Doctor looked like she’d been knocked off balance but quickly recovered, giving Thali her usual perky grin. “Hi. I’m the Doctor.” 

“Lovely to meet you, Doctor.” Thali put her chin in her hands. “I hope you’re both having a wonderful honeymoon.” 

Before the Doctor could respond, Alphonse, the human freight pilot, peered at them. “You ladies didn’t say you were on your honeymoon!” He burst into a jovial grin. Rose cast a glance at the Doctor, seeing how she would react. She hadn't expected her pretense to backfire on her like this. 

The Doctor gave a dismissive wave. “Oh, you know, didn’t want to make a big deal of it.” 

“Congratulations, Doctor!” Alphonse slapped her back so hard she nearly hit the table. “Here’s to a long, happy life together.”

Ednam, the Trell, gave a knowing nod. “You can tell you’re newlyweds too. The way you look at each other, there’s no doubt.” 

Prickles of embarrassment flooded Rose. How was the Doctor looking at her, exactly? She searched the Doctor’s face, looking for some clue, but the Time Lord was looking past her, not meeting her eyes. She wanted to come up with a witty comeback but drew a blank. 

“What are you two doing sitting here? You should be out on the dance floor.” Thali laughed. She got to her feet and pulled up both the Doctor and Rose. “Come on, get out there.” She gave them a slight push towards the floor.

“Aggressive hospitality policies,” the Doctor murmured. She looked at the dance floor, uncertain. 

“You won't let Rose sit here all right, are you, Doctor? Give her a whirl.” Thali flitted off, eager to greet the people at the next table.

Rose looked back at their table, where Ednam and Alphonse were giving them encouraging grins. The band was playing a romantic ballad. The Doctor still looked baffled, as if she’d never seen a dance floor before. “We don’t have to.” 

The Doctor gave her an unsettled smile. “Suppose the world won’t end.” And led Rose out to the dance floor, taking her hand. “Shall we dance?”

They moved in time with the music, but Rose paid little attention to anything but the beat. She felt like she was floating, with only the Doctor’s arms around her waist keeping her on the ground. She worried her own hands, resting on the Doctor’s shoulders, were too sweaty, and she hoped she wasn't staining the thin cotton. The Doctor was holding her close, so close, she could feel the warmth radiating off of her, and she didn’t want to let go. _This must be what Cinderella felt like at the ball_. Would the spell wear off, after tonight?

“Music is good,” The Doctor said. She’d barely said anything since they’d walked onto the dance floor, seemingly lost in thought. The overhead lights, shifting from blue to pink to white, glinted in her hair, making it look golden. 

“Yeah,” she quickly agreed. None of their usual conversation topics were relevant, or safe. 

The Doctor whispered. “It’ll take another day or two to go through the ship. If we don’t find anything, we’ll be off.” 

Rose felt a stab of disappointment. She’d gotten caught up in the fantasy of being the Doctor’s wife, and she only another two days, at most, to indulge. To pretend. But was it pretending? She thought of Ednam’s comment, _the way they look at each other_. She was all too conscious now of the Doctor’s hands on her sides, face inches from her own. Studying the lines around her eyes and mouth. 

Or maybe she was imagining things, and the Doctor was eager to get off the _Quicksilver_ and stop pretending they were married. Or she was faced with too many painful reminders of her actual wife.

“Sorry about the whole newlywed thing.” Rose looked at the floor. Her sleek pumps lined up against the Doctor’s worn boots. Different shoes, come together for the same purpose. “She was the salesperson in the shop, and we got to chatting, and I didn’t want to blow our cover, and--”

“I don’t mind.” The Doctor cut her off. “Does it bother you?” 

“Not at all,” Rose whispered, looking up at her. The Doctor’s lips were parted slightly, and with her eyes half-closed, she looked seductive. Tempting. She let her hands circle the Time Lord’s neck, her fingers brushing against the tiny gap between her shirt collar and her hairline, catching bare flesh. She could have sworn she heard the Doctor’s breath hitch. 

“Probably not what you expected for your honeymoon.” the Doctor’s voice was low, husky.

“You’ve never been what I expected,” Rose’s heart skipped a beat, worry and excitement building in her. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” 

The Doctor opened her mouth, but before she could speak, the floor tilted, and they heard a loud rumble. Rose felt a surge of panic as the lights went out, leaving the ballroom in total darkness. Her first instinct was to reach for her phone, only to remember she’d left it in her suite. Pinpoint lights spread across the ballroom like fireflies. The bracelets. They had a light source. She felt for the button and she immediately let go of Rose, looking panicked.

“What’s going on?!” shouted Rose. The ballroom erupted into chaos. Chair-shaped shadows slid across the room, and passengers were dodging them, screaming. 

“To the engine room, quick!” The Doctor sprinted off, jumping over a table split in half. Still in a daze, Rose took a moment to run after her. 

—

The engine room was two decks down and halfway across the ship. By the time Rose caught up with the Doctor, she was already in the heat of things, arguing in the face of the lead engineer. The captain, judged by his puffed-out chest and scowl, had no intention of listening to her.

“What took you so long?” the Doctor said. “Was it the heels?” 

“Don’t know if you’d noticed, but the ship’s unstable!” She had had to duck to avoid a falling statue and narrowly avoided a fire. Her feet ached from running in heels, but she’d never admit it. “What’s going on?”

“Massive power surge caused by a malfunction in the anti-matter drive!” The Doctor put her hands on Rose’s shoulders. “Get bananas, as many as you can. Quickly. Go!”

She knew better than to argue with the Doctor’s urgency. Only stopping to throw aside her heels, she dashed down the emergency stairs. Bananas, bananas…there’d been some at the fruit table in the ballroom. If they hadn’t already been smashed to pieces.   
The ballroom was the picture of chaos. She fought the crowds of passengers, running and shouting in all directions until she reached what was left of the fruit table, which had skidded into the middle of the room. Scooping up her arms full of bananas, she ran back to the bridge.

The Doctor was on the floor, pulling apart machinery when Rose came back to the engine room. The crew were at their stations, shouting status updates and commands to each other. She grabbed three bananas from Rose and shoved them into a glowing green compartment. The ship tilted again, and Rose grabbed onto the nearest railing. A moment later, the engines sputtered, and the ship righted itself, before settling into a quiet purr.

"Lucky timing." The Doctor sat up, wiping sweat from her brow. “Bananas give off a burst of antimatter every 75 minutes. Just enough to re-regulate the inertial dampeners and navigation. Always take a banana on a cruise, Rose.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fudged a little on asteria. Technically a grouping of stars is an asterism, but I liked the sound of asteria better. And it ties into the Greek goddess Asteria. What can I say? Language evolves.
> 
> The bit about bananas producing antimatter is true. There is an isotope of potassium found in bananas, potassium-40, that's responsible for positron emissions. Pears? Zero positrons :)


	18. The Desiderium Asteria (III)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last time: The Quicksilver's antimatter drive has gone haywire, interrupting the Doctor and Rose's definitely-not-a-date. The Doctor provided a temporary fix with bananas, but worse problems lay ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers: Holy shit at all these new kudos! Thank you so much Apologies for not replying to comments: high anxiety and time constraints are a bad combo. 
> 
> Revolution of the Daleks: asahoihoioho AHHHHHHHH Rose was mentioned! But not by the Doctor :( So close....

Rose stood in a circle with the Doctor, Captain Trello, First Officer Jacobs, and the other senior officers of the _Quicksilver_. Seconds after the ship stabilize, a trio of security guards had shown up to “escort” them to the bridge. They hadn’t been too manhandled, at least. On the way up to the engine room, emergency lights came on, lining the hallways. Rose kept an open ear, picking up snippets of conversation. Minor hull breaches. Several explosions. Minor casualties.

Captain Trello sized them up. His full greying mustache and beard dampened his facial expressions, but his sparkling eyes held curiosity. “So you’re the ones that saved my ship. What happened?”

The Doctor looked grave as she began her explanation.“The antimatter drive is missing its magnetic nozzles. No sign of them. They didn’t fall off, they didn’t break, they’re just gone. Any chance someone could have stolen them?”

Trello shook his head. His mustache quivered with each breath. “I’ve worked with the bridge crew for years. All fine, trustworthy people. We’ve already reviewed access codes and security footage. Nobody unauthorized has been up here tonight. Except you two.” He glared at the Doctor and Rose.

“Why would we take them?” Rose fired back. “Besides, we were at the dinner all night.”

“You two aren’t listed on the ship’s manifest,” Jacobs sneered, looking down at her.” Who are you, really?” 

“The ones who are going to save your bloody ship.” The Doctor interrupted. “Without the nozzles, there’s no way to direct antimatter, no way to power the ship. We’re adrift. The bananas will provide power, but only a trickle, and in bursts. Since power’s been restored, so I assume there are backup generators. How long are they good for?”

“For life support, sixteen hours,” Trello said. “Eight for electricity.”

“And how far are we from the nearest inhabited planet?”

“At least three days.”

The Doctor shook her head. “You need to shut everything down now, as much as you can. Gather all the passengers, put them in a central area. Block off decks. Close vents. We need to conserve heat and oxygen. Especially heat. When the generators fail, it’s going to start getting very cold on this ship, very quickly.”

Jacobs was unimpressed. “Why are we even listening to this madwoman, Captain?! She stuffed the antimatter drive with bananas! She should be thrown in the brig.”

“Because she’s right, Jacobs.” Trello gave the first officer a withering look. To the Doctor he said. “We’ve tried to radio for help. Nearest ship is two days out.” 

“Can’t you fix the antimatter drive?” Rose asked. “You must have spare parts or something, right?”

“Do you know the price of a magnetic nozzle?” Jacobs sneered. “It’s ridiculous! Besides, we’ve got bigger problems.” 

“Bigger than the ship being dead in the water?” The Doctor asked.

“Our ship is on a trajectory straight towards the Artemis belt.” Jacobs turned serious. “Normally we go around it, but we can’t even steer.”

Rose’s stomach sank. She remembered the ship was going to come near the Artemis belt to give the passengers a view, but now they were drifting into danger.

“That’s the problem with space,” the Doctor said. “A bit of friction would slow us down, but in a vacuum, there’s nothing to rub against. How long until we reach the Artemis belt?”

“Three hours,” said Jacobs.

“Um, Captain?” called the navigator. “There’s a strange object on top of the ship’s hull. Thirty degrees portside. Wasn’t there before.”

“Can we get a visual?” asked Trello. “This must have been an attack. I’ve heard rumors of pirates among cruise routes.”

Everyone craned around the viewscreen as the navigator focused on the strange object. “Another surprise from the Disintegrator?” Rose whispered.

She didn’t get a response. The Doctor’s mouth was agape as she pointed to the unidentified object on the screen. On the roof of the _Quicksilver_ , the TARDIS stood, balanced on its smooth surface. Her mouth was agape. “That’s my ship.”

The room exploded into questions. Jacobs was yelling about hostile activity, and Trello was trying to talk him down. Rose pulled the Doctor aside. “What’s it doing out there?”

“It was the Hostile Action Displacement System. My guess is there was an explosion in the cargo bay, which the TARDIS interpreted as a threat. So it rematerialized somewhere safe.” She slammed her clenched fist against the console. “The one time I remember to set the HADS, and it backfires!”

Rose wasn’t sure what to say to that. She glanced at Trello was giving orders to the crew and demanding status updates. She put a comforting hand on the Doctor’s arm. “We’ll get it back. Can you bring it here with the sonic?”

“Worth a try.” She pushed back a lock of hair as she pulled out the sonic. She pursed her lips as the sonic buzzed. Three tries and no TARDIS. She shook her head. “Not working. So, the ship’s about to hit an asteroid belt, my TARDIS is on the roof, and we’re days away from help.” She called to Trello. “Oi, Captain, on a ship this big you must have maintenance shuttles.”

“We had two. Both damaged when the ship went haywire.”

“Weapons? We could take out some asteroids.” 

“Insufficient power.”

“Blast it. Plan B. Or C.” The Doctor paced around the bridge. “Rose, what letter am I on?”

“Think it’s E.” Rose looked out the window, stomach tight. She didn’t know how to spot the Artemis belt out the window, but she didn’t want to think about how close it was. 

“E! That’s it!” The Doctor snapped her fingers. “Trello, check if there are any EVA suits intact.” 

He looked at her, doubtful. “I’m not sending any of my crew outside this close to an asteroid field.”

“Not the crew. Me.” she pointed to herself. “I’m going to take a spacewalk and get the TARDIS. Step one, attach tethers to the _Quicksilver_ , stop it from hitting the Artemis Belt. Step two, materialize on board and evacuate everyone before life support fails.” 

Jacobs scoffed from his station. “What is it, a magic box?”

The Doctor put her hands on her hips. “Yeah, and the first thing I do after I go out and get it is to make your attitude disappear. You’ve got Magna-Clamps, I take it? I can use those to move across the hull.”

“Suits and clamps are intact.” Trello looked up from the monitor. “How long will it take?”

The Doctor’s eyes darted towards the door. “If I suit up right now, I should be able to get to the TARDIS before we run into Artemis. Very good in a crisis, me.”

Trello paused, as if he were trying to think of an excuse, but gave her a slow nod. “There’s no other option.”

As Trello gave the orders to prep for an EVA, the Doctor took Rose aside. “I’ve done plenty of spacewalks. Nothing to fuss about.” Her smile was small and tight, a look Rose knew all too well. She was worried. “While I’m gone, I want you to go to the ballroom. There are dozens of casualties. Find a way to help.” 

Rose suspected this was as much for her benefit as theirs. To keep her busy so she wouldn’t worry. She thought of the Doctor outside, closing in on asteroids, nothing to protect her but a thin layer of polymers, supplied by a ship whose crew wouldn’t spring for extra parts. But she couldn’t talk the Doctor out of it. She and the captain were right; this was their best option. “Just be careful, yeah?”

“Extremely.” She gave Rose a pointed look. “If I don’t make it--”

“Don’t say that!” Rose’s heart clenched. She wouldn’t even consider it.

“This is important.” She spoke with an unfamiliar sternness. “The bridge crew will divert all remaining power to the escape pods. They can point the pods from the asteroids. You’ll have a chance.”

Stuck in a tiny can, days from rescue, didn’t sound like much of a chance, but losing the Doctor was so, so, much worse. She looked into the Time Lord’s eyes, full of concern, assuring herself she’d be fine. She had to be fine. “Okay.” The weakness of her voice surprised her. 

The Doctor held her gaze for a long moment. Despite the urgency of her task, she was, for once, not eager to move, a picture of stillness. “One more thing. Give me your hand.” 

Rose held out her right hand, not sure if the Doctor was going to shake it or kiss it. Instead, she grasped it firmly, giving her a mournful smile as she soniced her bracelet. 

“Giving you a comms upgrade. The bridge crew will give you status updates directly from the bracelet.” She let her hold linger, looking into Rose’s eyes before reluctantly letting go. “See you soon.” 

Rose watched as the woman she loved leave the bridge, a nearly imperceptible droop to her shoulders. She considered for a moment calling after her, but her voice was stuck in her throat. 

She didn’t even know what she’d say.

—

The Doctor’s journey across its hull was best described in one word: tedious. 

Raise one Magna-Clamp, push herself forward a bit, Magna-Clamp down, repeat with the other side. On a good push, she could move two feet forward. Pull, push, clank. Even though they were inching closer to the Artemis belt, she mustn’t hurry. The hull was like a drop of mercury., smooth and shiny. There were no handholds. If her hands slipped, she’d float off into oblivion. A metallic tang lingered in the suit, either from the smell of space or of the being who used it last. 

But her thoughts kept drifting back to Rose.

Tonight had been dangerous. Not just the antimatter drive, but everything before it. Exploring the ship during the day had been lonely without Rose, and she’d called her companion far more than necessary just to see how she was doing. Tonight, Rose was far too alluring. And during the dance, holding her close—if the Doctor had still been a man, her interest would have been obvious.

_She’s human. She’ll be gone in a flash_ , the Doctor reminded herself. But did that make a relationship with one ill-advised? She didn’t know. There’d been a few times that night where she thought she’d seen a flicker of-affection? Desire? But the Doctor had been the recipient of many adoring looks; her human friends tended to do that with her. The Doctor was decisive when it came to saving planets or people, but far less so with matters of the hearts. 

Besides, Rose didn’t like women. Probably. Come to think of it, she wasn’t sure. The obvious thing to do would be to ask, but she was socially awkward enough as it was. 

She sighed. She’d met Rose too late. Sandshoes or Chinny would have swaggered right up to her. Eventually Rose would move on from the TARDIS, and on with her life. Find a man. Settle down. No use fantasizing about the alternative. 

Pull, push, clank.

The comms crackled to life. “Doctor. Update.” Navigator Chell had been checking in with her approximately every fifteen minutes.

“Just about up the port wall. Status nominal.” Not that she needed to say the latter. All vital information was available on the viewscreen in her helmet, in addition to being transmitted to the bridge. Suit pressure and integrity: within normal limits. Oxygen: 82%. CO2: <1%. Suit Temp: 20.6 degrees. Not included-arms: aching.

“ETA for reaching your ship?”

She picked up a Magna-Clamp, letting it settle with a loud clank. “At least thirty minutes.”

“Keep us posted.”

She was over the wall now and could see the TARDIS, the blue box a beacon against the dark sky. Just another fifty meters or so and she’d be home. The TARDIS, her one constant companion. That would love and welcome her, no matter what form she took. 

Pull, push, clank.

She should think about the Disintegrator. She’d briefly reviewed the security footage with Trello while getting in the EVA suit. Nobody had been near the antimatter drive in the past 72 hours. The sabotage had to be done either in advance or worse yet, remotely. They may have a bigger problem on their hands than she expected. Once she got back aboard the _Quicksilver_ , she’d have to ask Rose her opinion. Her mind drifted back to her warm brown eyes, not to mention the low neckline of her dress.

The viewscreen chirped at the Doctor over her quickened pulse. Blast it. Rose wasn’t even here, and she was having this effect on her. She needed to focus on what she was doing. She turned her body slightly to align with the TARDIS doors, now just forty meters away. 

Pull, push, clank. 

She felt something flick against her back, a pressure cushioned by the suit. Looking starboard side, her mouth dropped open. She’d been so preoccupied she hadn’t noticed the debris from the asteroid belt was coming towards her. Several large rocks were headed straight for her.

Panicked, she tried to duck out the way, letting the debris whiz past. She let go of one of the Magna-Clamps Only to have another piece of debris headed straight for her head. 

A rock the size of a baseball hit her helmet visor, sending a crack the full length across. Her eyes widened as she heard a slow hiss.

Oxygen, rushing out of the suit.

—

“What do you mean, something happened to the Doctor?!”

Rose had rushed to the bridge as soon as she’d heard over her bracelet there’d been an incident, Captain Trello explained a piece of debris from the Artemis belt had hit the Doctor and the ship, knocking out visual contact and all comms. 

“Is she still...out there?” Rose looked out the window.

“We don’t know. She could still be .” he said, “The debris cracked the helmet. It’s self-repairing, but she lost a lot of oxygen before that. Best case scenario: she has fifteen minutes of oxygen left.”

Rose’s legs gave out. She sank into the metal floor, oblivious to the cold on her legs, unable to focus on anything but the time kept by the bracelet. Fifteen minutes. The Doctor could do anything in fifteen minutes. She stared at the bracelet, willing the Doctor to contact them. 

The bridge crew scrambled, trying to re-establish visual contact. She looked up from time to time, noting they weren’t having any success. She stared down at her feet, still bare from when she’d kicked off her heels. Three hours ago, in a flurry of activity. It felt like another era altogether.

Ten minutes.

The bridge crew stepped over her, occasionally giving her looks of annoyance, or more often, pity. She paid no attention to either. She sat frozen on the floor, her only movement was toying with the bracelet and the twisting of her stomach.

Five minutes. 

_Come on, Doctor. You’re out there. You can do this_. Her entire focus was on her wrist.

Four minutes.

Three.

Two.

One. 

Zero.

Trello’s posture sagged. “No word. I’m sorry, Ms. Tyler.”

“No.” She stood up, firm. “Send someone out there. She could be hurt.”

“I will not send one of my crew out this close to the Artemis belt. It’s a death sentence” 

“Then send me!” 

He was quickly losing patience. “With all due respect, Ms. Tyler, have you ever done an EVA?”

“No” she had to admit. “Wait, at least? She’s done the impossible before.” _Please, please let her be out there._

Trello frowned “The _Quicksilver_ is closing in on the Artemis belt. I’m responsible for every life aboard this ship. Would you ask me to sacrifice them all? Would it be worth it?”

_She’s worth it_ , Rose thought. _She is worth all of them, and more. She’s everything._ But she didn’t expect him to understand. “Please. Just wait.”

Trello let out a sigh. “Chell, what’s our position?”

Chell chirped back. “89-11-00. Still a few klicks out. We’ve got ten minutes max before we need to start evacuating.”

“Fine.” Trello relented, but he wasn’t happy about it. “Ten more minutes.” 

Rose was left alone again to count. She averted her gaze from any well-meaning, concerned crew members. 

Five minutes. 

There had to be something. 

Seven.

Eight.

Every second ticked by too quickly and not fast enough.  
The Doctor needed more time.  
Rose needed to know.

Nine.

_Ten_. 

Captain Trello gave the order for evacuation, putting an awkward hand on her shoulder and offering condolences. Every part of her body shook. The Doctor couldn’t be gone. She couldn’t be.

“Miss?” A crew member she didn’t recognize, young and earnest, addressed her. “We need to get you to a pod.”

She turned away, saying nothing.

“Miss? Come on, we all have to leave.” He put his hand on her shoulder, and she violently shrugged it off. 

“We have to leave, miss. Don’t make me get some blokes to carry you.” She was about to protest to leave her when she felt a pull, and everyone was knocked off balance, leaning forward. She put out her hands to catch the crew member, who narrowly avoided falling.

“Now what?” she asked. Her pulse raced. What could go wrong now? Just then, she heard a crackle and view monitor went to static. After a second, the image, larger than life, was the Doctor in the TARDIS. Rose sank into the floor again, wanting to laugh and cry at once. The Doctor was alive. She'd made it.

“Good. Re-established comms. Hello there.” She waved. 

“Doctor?” Trello was astonished. “How?”

“I’m very good at holding my breath.” She grinned. “Got slowed down by that debris, and when I got on board the TARDIS, the _Quicksilver_ was coming dangerously close to the Artemis belt, and I needed to get the tethers attached immediately.” She opened the TARDIS door, revealing a set of lengthy black cords from her ship to theirs. “See, Rose, I told you. Nothing to worry about.”

"Nothing to worry about?! " Rose repeated dumbly. "You couldn't have sent a text?!" 

“Remind me to put WhatsApp on your phone," She said. “I’m going to pull the ship a safe distance away from the Artemis belt. Then we’ll get you all squared away.” 

Rose lay outstretched in her bed on the TARDIS, buried under the duvet, unwilling to move. The _Quicksilver_ evacuation had taken hours, moving first the injured passengers, then the healthy ones, and ensuring there were no stragglers before life support failed. The Doctor had created several large holding rooms for the passengers, and Rose had been responsible for herding them there without answering too many questions about the TARDIS. Then transport back to Acanar and disembarking everyone, while avoiding too many inquiries from authorities. 

She never thought she’d be so glad to see her quarters aboard the TARDIS again. It wasn’t anything fancy, even though the closet was much bigger than the one at home. On the dresser, she’d gathered some trinkets from her travels, the room’s only decoration. Still, it felt as much as home to her as her own bedroom. 

There was a soft knock at the door. “Come in,” she called, sitting up. The Doctor lingered in the doorway, in her usual outfit, leather jacket, rainbow shirt, and jeans. She rarely came into Rose’s room, with the unspoken understanding it was her space. 

The Doctor lingered in the doorway. “You look like you need a holiday from your holiday.” 

You could say that,” Rose chuckled. “Just the usual, yeah?” 

"Agreed. Though,” her voice softened. “It wasn’t all bad, was it?” 

Rose looked down, hoping her hide her reddening cheeks. “No. Not all bad.” 

The Doctor stood in silence for a moment before continuing. “We saved every life aboard the _Quicksilver_. Every one. There were injuries, some serious, but no deaths. Don’t always get to say that.” 

Oh. That was what she meant. “Right.” 

She looked up at the Doctor. The Time Lord was twisting her hands, looking uncomfortable, restrained. _“By the way, brought this back for you.” The Doctor reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out Rose’s wrap, depositing it at the foot of the bed._

Rose reached for it, feeling the wrinkled silk between her fingers. She met the Doctor’s gaze. “Where’d you find it?” 

“In the ballroom. I knew how much you liked it.” She turned on her heel and walked away. 

Rose held the wrap in both hands, stretching it out to display the Desiderium Asteria in full. The ballroom had been chaotic in the evacuation. The Doctor must have overturned every table, every chair, to find it for her. She pressed the material to her chest, closing her eyes, and thinking of what the Doctor had said to her before everything went to pieces: 

_For you? Anything_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: In the Details: 
> 
> The next few "episodes" I expect to be shorter, 1-2 chapters long.


	19. In the Details (I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are heating up as the Doctor and Rose investigate weird stuff happening in a cave.
> 
> Also happening: big exisential questions and quotes from Modernist architects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! This chapter, and only this chapter, has dubcon stuff happening, and in an abundance of caution I've added "rape/non-con" as a warning tag. I promise it’s brief (a few paragraphs) and not too graphic. If you need to, skip this chapter and I’ll summarize in the next one. There will be fully consensual stuff happening in a few chapters ;)

Rose slid down on the chaise lounge, resting the paperback she’d been reading on her chest as she closed her eyes. She hadn’t been expecting to find romance novels in the TARDIS library, but she’d been pleasantly surprised to find them next to the Venusian poetry section. The book, a run-of-the-mill bodice-ripper, was nothing special but gave her the fuel to let her imagination run wild. As it often did these days.

She thought of the Doctor, unable to resist her. The Doctor in a waistcoat and cravat like the rakish idiot man from the novel. Or the tux she’d worn aboard the _Quicksilver_. And then wearing less. Much less. Pressing her up against the wall, hands as nimble with her body as she was with the console, a sheer force of desire. Or here, in the library, bent over the plush recliner, or in her quarters. On the plush grass of Andalor, which they’d visited a few days ago, under the pink and purple skies. 

_” Rose.”The Doctor loomed over her as she lay helpless on the bed, parting her legs. Her breath came in short gasps. “I want to watch you come undone.”_

She squirmed on the lounge, pressing her legs together. She should take this to her quarters. She needed to. She was about to get up when she heard the Doctor’s cheery voice. “Rose?”

“What?!” she sat up, startled. The paperback fell to the floor with a _thwack _. The Doctor was standing in front of her, goggles perched on top of her head. With all the grease stains on her hands, she looked out of place in the library, but no less desirable.__

__“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you,” she said. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”_ _

__“No! No, just resting a bit.” She tried to calm the waver in her voice, clearing her mind. Two versions of the Doctor, the one from her fantasy, and the one in reality, interplayed in her mind. “What is it?”_ _

__“Got a ping on the energy fluctuation scanner. It’s on Sentra 6. Give or take a few light-years. 28th century Earth standard. It’s either an incredibly elaborate carnival, or it’s the Disintegrator’s work. Either way, we should check it out.”_ _

__The Doctor had spent the last week or so building the energy fluctuation scanner, a giant hulk of machinery, to detect Disintegrator activity. Mostly futzed around and complained it wasn’t working. Rose had offered to help, but with a tight smile, the Doctor had said no, she’d work by herself on this. The scanner was in the engine room, and she'd be crammed in a small space for hours._ _

__The Doctor had had an odd tension about her lately. Rose had asked her about it, and she’d said she was worried about the Disintegrator destroying the universe. It was a reasonable explanation, but Rose got the impression there was something more. One of the many things she wasn’t saying about herself._ _

__Now, Rose looked up at her. The image of the Doctor crawling on top of her on the chaise, straddling her, flashed through her mind, and she pushed it away. “This isn’t another false alarm, is it?”_ _

__“I already apologized about landing in the middle of the Sheep Uprising,” the Doctor huffed. “I’m bang on this time.”_ _

__“We’ll see.” Rose swung her legs to the floor, ready to move, but she hesitated at the Doctor’s look of concern._ _

__“Are you feeling all right?” she asked. “You look a little flushed.”_ _

__“I’m fine!” Rose protested. “Just a little warm, is all.” She unzipped her hoodie, removing it and strategically draping it over the romance novel. She didn’t want the Doctor to know what she’d been reading._ _

__“Hmmm.” The Doctor scrunched her nose. “The TARDIS homeostasis controls should optimize the temperature for you. I’ll look at those later. Right now, it’s off to Sentra 6. Meet you in the console room in ten?”_ _

__“Sure,” she said. That would give her a chance to collect herself before they walked into (most certain) danger. Not to mention taking in the view from behind as the Doctor walked out of the library._ _

__—_ _

__Although the Doctor often landed the TARDIS in the wrong place, or the wrong time, she and Rose knew they were in the right place when they caught the strains of two men in a heated argument._ _

__Probably men, at least. Rose had learned it was best not to make assumptions about either species or gender. Aside from the men arguing, the scene was idyllic. They were in an expansive valley, the only break in the lush vegetation being the earth-brown surface surrounding a cave entrance. The Doctor carried a gadget of some sort, able to monitor energy fluctuations at the local level._ _

__“You’re not going in there and that’s final!” The taller of the two shouted. Dressed in a simple but thick grey robe and showed no sign of discomfort, despite the rampant humidity. “I will not let you continue to violate sacred ground!”_ _

__“Abbot Lane, you’re a practical man.” The other man spoke with a slow drawl as he hitched his thumbs into his waistband. He reminded Rose of a cowboy, lean and rugged. “Think of what the contents of the cave could provide for your coffers.” He pointed up at a weathered stone building above the cave entrance. “The monastery ain’t looking so good. One good landslide and your home is gone.”_ _

__Whatever charm he was selling, the abbot wasn’t buying. “As if you’d share, Ahim. Besides, the cave was closed for a reason!”_ _

__“And now it’s open for a reason!” Ahim snapped. “Don’t you want to see what it is?”_ _

__Rose nudged the Doctor. “I thought monks took a vow of silence,” she whispered._ _

__“Depends on the order. Remind me to tell you about the Screaming Monks of Avalon,” the Doctor whispered back._ _

__“It’s too risky.” Abbot Lane peered at him with animosity. “You’ve lost two men already. What makes you think you won’t lose more?”_ _

__The Doctor stepped forward. “Hello! I’m the Doctor and this is Rose. Couldn’t help overhearing your discussion. This is an awful lot of squabbling over a cave.”_ _

__The abbot looked over at her with disdain. “You don’t know?”_ _

__She shrugged. “We’re new in town.”_ _

__The abbot huffed. “The boulder blocking the cave of Alphira is gone.”_ _

__“What happened to it?”_ _

__“We don’t know. A few days ago, we came out here for morning prayers, and it had vanished,” he wiped a trace of sweat from his brow._ _

__“Did anyone say ‘Open Sesame?’” Rose joked._ _

__“What?” Both the cowboy and the abbot gave her an odd look._ _

__“Never mind.” Apparently _Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves_ was not known throughout the universe._ _

__“The cave is a sacred site,” Abbot Lane continued. “The Order of Colifar has been on the cave site for centuries. Long ago, they found God in the cave. After decades of prayer and service, they would send the monks into the cave to be taken in His glory. And now pirates are trying to get inside.”_ _

__“Treasure hunters,” Ahim corrected. Addressing Rose and the Doctor, he stroked his beard. “My men reported unimaginable riches. Caverns filled with gold and jewels. But something in the cave got to them before they could bring out the loot.”_ _

__“It just so happens Rose and I are skilled spelunkers.” The Doctor gave them both an earnest grin. “Mind if we check it out?”_ _

__“I’m not letting anyone else die,” Abbot Lane said._ _

__“We don’t want anyone else dead,” the Doctor said. Addressing Ahim, she asked, “How long ago did you lose your men?”_ _

__“About two hours ago,” Ahim said. “One moment they were raving about gold and jewels, the next, we lost comms. Haven’t heard from them.”_ _

__“There’s a chance they could be alive.” Striding over to the cave entrance, the Doctor scanned it with the sonic. “Reading some wild energy fluctuations. Something is very odd about this cave, and we should look. Just need a few minutes.”_ _

__“How do we know you’re not after the treasure yourself?” Ahim said._ _

__“We won’t touch a single coin. Promise,” the Doctor said. “Abbot, if there’s any chance of rescuing Ahim’s men, we need to look for them. And I’ll bet you believe that’s more important than violating the sanctity of the cave. I’m good at this. Trust me.”_ _

__Abbot Lane considered them for a long moment, before giving her a reluctant nod. “Be careful.”_ _

__“We will.” Turning to Rose, she said, “I want you to go inside and report back. I’m going to monitor the energy readings at the entrance. There might be a pattern, a code, something we can use that will tell us how the Disintegrator is doing this.”_ _

__Rose felt a hint of fear as the Doctor talked. She walked into dangerous places all the time, but the potentially dead treasure hunters gave her pause. The boulder must have been there for a reason, to keep whatever was killing people trapped inside. Something that, once unleashed, could kill everyone in the area. And that, combined with the Doctor’s eager expression, was enough to propel her forward._ _

__“On it.” She put on a brave smile. “D’you think the monks actually found God in the cave? Their god, at least?”_ _

__The Doctor looked uncomfortable. As much as she enjoyed talking about a myriad of subjects, she steered clear of questions about God or the afterlife. After squirming for a moment, she replied, “You know what they say. God is in the details.”_ _

__“I thought the devil was in the details.”_ _

__“I won’t tell Mies van der Rohe you said that.” The Doctor reached into her jacket pocket and handed Rose a thin flat circle. A comm dot. “Call if you need help.”_ _

__“Thanks.” Rose let her fingers linger over the Doctor’s only for a moment before she affixed the comm dot to her neck. She could smell moss and damp air coming from the mouth of the cave. Before entering, she took one look back. The abbot and Ahim were still arguing, and the Doctor was busy scanning the outside of the cave, picking up a rock to examine._ _

__“Don’t you dare lick a single rock while I’m gone,” Rose ordered._ _

__The Doctor put up her hands in mock indignation. “I wasn’t planning to!”_ _

__"Planning and doing are two separate things." Steeling herself, Rose entered the cave.  
—_ _

__The cave’s insides quickly darkened as she stepped on packed dirt. She was about to turn around when she remembered to use the torch on her phone. A row of umber stalactites hung from the ceiling, and she had to duck to avoid being hit in the head. The air was cooler but equally damp. So far, the cave was incredibly normal. Dull, even. She thought of what the Doctor always told her: Stay alert. Keep your eyes and ears open. Notice everything, no matter how small._ _

__The cave floor dipped down, down, and she held on to the ragged wall to keep her balance. With slow steps, she came to a fork, divided by a stack of boulders, and arbitrarily went left. The only sound was the echo of her boots and the crunch of dirt under her feet. A soft glow was ahead of her, and within a few feet, she found herself in a cavern. A string of red and blue jewels, embedded in the ceiling, provided a hint of illumination. These couldn’t have been the treasures Ahim’s men were referring to. They’d never come out of the walls, and they looked chintzy, like dollar store jewelry._ _

__Looking around with the torch, the rest of the cavern was bare. No sign of treasure. She’d been expecting something the monks had set up, altars or offerings, but she only spotted a few small boulders and two long raised areas like logs, half-buried in the ground. She was about to investigate the logs when she felt a tap on the shoulder and whirled around._ _

__“Rose.” Somehow, the Doctor had sneaked up on her without making a sound. “Found you at last.”_ _

__There was something in the Doctor’s expression she hadn’t seen before, something raw and dangerous. Her eyes gleamed in the dim light. “Is everything okay?”_ _

__“Not in the least.” Her tone had an urgency, not of danger, but a need. The Doctor moved close to her, so they were only separated by inches. The intensity of the Doctor’s stare, entirely focused on her, was like laser beams burning through her. “I couldn’t wait any longer.”_ _

__“For what?”_ _

__“You.” The Doctor closed a possessive hand around the back of her neck. “I’ve wanted you for so long, I can barely control myself.”_ _

__“What?” Rose blinked. It wasn’t her smoothest moment, but it did nothing to change the Doctor’s lustful gaze. Heat surged through her as her heart thumped against her ribcage. But here, in a sacred cave? It felt unseemly. Fifteen minutes ago, the Doctor’s unwavering focus had been on the Disintegrator. Trying to recover, she said, “I-I thought you were monitoring the energy fluctuations.”_ _

__“Don’t play dumb with me. You want this as much as I do.” In a sudden movement, the Doctor grabbed the back of her head and claimed Rose’s lips with her own._ _

__Rose was exploding inside, weightless, only aware of the Doctor’s tongue in her mouth and her hands, rough in her hair, practically scraping against her skin. She tasted of salt and heat and dirt, and she wondered briefly if the Doctor had, in fact, licked the rocks outside. But she brushed the thought away like an errant fly. The Doctor pinned her against the cave wall, holding her arms above her head, sinking needlelike teeth into her neck. Knifelike rocks from the wall jutted into Rose’s back, but she was beyond caring. She pitched her head back, groaning as the Doctor moved against her._ _

__“Should we go back to the TARDIS?” Rose spoke between ragged breaths._ _

__“Mmm-mmm. Can’t wait that long.” Her breath, hot and damp on her skin, made her tingle. Leaning forward, she whispered in Rose’s ear. “I want to watch you come undone.”_ _

__Rose went stiff as her eyes widened. The exact phrase from her fantasy earlier._ _

__And everything clicked._ _

__The monks, fasting and praying and working, hoping to find God._ _

__The pirates, fighting and pillaging and risking their lives for treasure._ _

__It was in the details._ _

__“You’re not the Doctor.” She pushed the being off of her, staring at her in anger. She kept her fists clenched, ready to move at the slightest provocation. Whatever this was, it had gotten into her thoughts._ _

__“What are you talking about? Of course I’m the Doctor.” It tried to approach her, but she moved down the side of the wall, unwilling to let her come close. “I’ve shown you the universe. And I will give you everything you want.”_ _

__Her body was responding in ways that made her brain go fuzzy. The Doctor was standing in front of her, feet hip width apart, running her tongue across her lips. She wanted to believe her, to give in so badly. In her haze, she thought of one certainty._ _

__She touched the comm dot on her neck. “Doctor?”_ _

__“Rose? How’s it going?” The Doctor, the actual Doctor, clear and upbeat over the comm. Rose’s stomach sank._ _

__The faux-Doctor lunged toward her, but Rose dodged out of her way and took off, running the perimeter of the cavern. She nearly tripped over one of the logs she spotted earlier. She gasped when she looked down to see a lifeless body darkened with bruises. Gathering herself, she sprinted off again, determined not to let the faux-Doctor catch her, and didn’t stop again until she reached the cavern entrance._ _

__Rose heard a hiss and bubbling behind her, and she stopped to look back. The faux-Doctor was melting in front of her, features elongated and distorted. Its surface darkened to mahogany brown as it devolved into a shapeless mass, then sank into the cavern floor, indistinguishable from the rest. It must not be able to leave the cavern._ _

__“Rose.” The Doctor called again over the comm dot. “Everything all right?”_ _

__She caught her breath before answering. “Yeah. I'm on my way out."_ _

__“Did you find anything?”_ _

__“The bodies of Ahim’s men,” she said. “And I know what happened to them.”_ _

__“What is it?”_ _

__“There’s a creature in here, a shapeshifter.” She tried not to let her voice break. “And it takes the form of your greatest desire.”_ _


	20. In the Details (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the last chapter, Rose made out with what she thought was the Doctor, but turned out to be a metamorph that lived in a cave. A creature that took the form of the observer's greatest desire. 
> 
> But what does the Doctor see in the cave?

Rose sat at the TARDIS kitchen table, trying to collect herself. She’d waved off everyone at the site when she came out of the cave and come straight back to the ship, saying she’d needed to get some water. But at the moment, she wondered if the Doctor had anything stronger on hand. 

It wasn’t nearly as bad as getting shot, at least. She felt humiliated, the feelings she’d been holding inside exposed, even though nobody knew what happened in the cave. That creature had been in her thoughts- _her thoughts_ -and that was worse than thinking about what happened physically. The worst part was she believed it. She should have known better to think the Doctor would want her. 

A mental nudge came from the TARDIS, and she knew the Doctor was back. Not to check on her, she hoped. She gripped the edge of the table in search of something to hold on to. How was she supposed to look the Doctor in the eye after this? A harder nudge, almost painful this time. She sighed. Slowly rising from the table, she made her way to the console room. 

She found the Doctor at the console, leaning into it, but rather than looking over the controls, staring off into space, unfocused. A lock of hair dangled in front of her eyes, but she didn’t notice. She didn't even notice Rose come into the console room. 

“Doctor?” 

The Time Lord snapped out of her thoughts. “Hey.” Her voice was flat, deadened. She sounded weary, not from exertion, but from existence. “We should be going.”

She looked so small. The Doctor was small, but she took up so much space, in action, in speech, in Rose’s head, that she never seemed it. It wasn’t like her to not talk about what they’d encountered. Normally she’d be happily chattering about how the creepy monster in the cave was a metamorph from Zangabar and rattling off the entire history of their species before proclaiming she’d made friends with it. But this was unprecedented. The Doctor was idly patting the console now, not looking at Rose. _Does she know what I saw?_

She hesitated about asking about the cave, not wanting to retread her experience. “Did you find anything from the Disintegrator?” That was still a safe topic.

The Doctor shook her head slowly. “Checked the whole site. No clues.” 

“Do you want me to look? It helps to have an extra pair of eyes.” 

“We should go,” The Doctor repeated. Rose had never seen the Doctor like this. She was always so full of life, of energy, and now she looked so dispirited. She hadn’t even talked about where they’d go next. 

“Anything else?” she ventured.

“Told the locals to block the cave entrance again. And put up a warning. In at least ten languages.”

The controls reflected the blue light from the walls as the Doctor slowly stretched her fingers over them. Everything about her was in slow motion like she was moving underwater. The TARDIS made a low hum, and the engines groaned, but the ship failed to move. The Doctor looked up at the central column. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked with a harsh, clipped tone. “Why aren’t you moving?” It made Rose want to jump back, but she forced herself to be still. Something was wrong.

The Doctor leaned over the console, muttering under her breath. A small lever came off in her hand. “Blast it!” She threw the lever to the ground, where it clattered against the metal floor. She stomped out of the console room, boots echoing in the small space.

Her own anguish forgotten, Rose hesitated only for a moment, wondering if the Doctor would rather be alone, but she couldn’t stand to see the Doctor upset. She ran after the Time Lord. 

The corridor twisted and turned into unfamiliar passageways, and dozens of rooms she’d not yet seen. She tried a few which were locked. The Doctor could have been in any of them. But she wouldn't give up that easily. She put her hand on the wall, running her fingertips over its cool, smooth surface. “Find her,” she whispered. She’d never issued the TARDIS a command before. She didn’t know if it would work. No response. She kept her fingers on the wall. “Let me help her.” 

A slight static shock at her fingertips. She kept walking until there was only one door at the end of a corridor.

And stepped outside.

—

The Doctor sat in the garden, hugging her needs to her chest. The lanterns, glowing yellow, lined the path behind her provided the only illuminations against the faux dark sky. If she ignored the muted hum of the engines under her, and the gentle probe of the TARDIS’ telepathic signals, she could imagine she was there. Almost. She breathed in, taking in the light perfumed scent of water blossoms and daca lilies. Flowers gathered from all around the universe. The garden, usually calming, was doing nothing to quell her inner turmoil.

She shouldn’t have known better than to go in the cave herself. Even though she’d known what she’d see. Even though she knew how much it would hurt. But she’d never been one for doing the sensible thing. And she needed to see it one more time. And now the hurt, the freshly opened wound, leaving her raw, exposed. She hugged herself tightly; if she let go, she’d fall to pieces. 

She almost wished for one of the headaches. Blinding, searing pain that blotted out everything. It was only physical pain. No room for regret or rejection or disappointment. 

“Doctor?” Rose called from behind her. Another desire she couldn’t have. How had Rose found the garden? The Doctor had never shown it to her, and it was in a remote part of the TARDIS, one she shouldn’t have been able to find by herself. 

Part of her wanted to run to her friend and cry in her arms, but The Doctor kept herself stiff. She didn’t dare look back, not trusting herself to keep her composure. She couldn’t let Rose see her like this. It wasn’t her problem. Rose, who counted on her to have the answers, to keep her safe. A tiny voice inside her said she also wanted to look impressive in front of Rose, but she pushed it away. 

“I just need a moment.” She tried to put some life into her flat voice. “Then I’ll look at the engines.”

She heard a rustling of the grass and Rose lowered her weight to sit beside her, about a meter away. A short, but respectful distance, as if she were a wounded animal. She took a cautious glance to the side. Rose was running her fingers through the grass. “It’s so soft,” she murmured. She took in the clusters of flowers and trees, eyes wide in awe. “It’s beautiful here.”

“This is my garden,” the Doctor said. Keep talking about the garden, the immediate, the mundane, and steer clear of what’s in your head. “Fauna from all around the universe. The TARDIS regulates soil moisture, humidity, and provides ultraviolet radiation for growth.”

“Do you come here often?”

“Sometimes.” The last time was after she’d put Agnes/The Great Intelligence back in the timelocked prison. She’d been enraged over Rose being shot, at both Agnes for causing it, and herself for letting it happen. She looked away, back at the stars. “I can show you around.”

Rose shook her head. She wouldn't be distracted that easily. “Why do you keep looking at that one spot in the sky?”

“I’m not.” She jerked her head away, finding a spot to stare at in the grass. 

“Yes, you are. What’s up there?”

“Nothing. It’s not really there. The TARDIS recreated the sky.” Through telepathy, the TARDIS had known exactly what she needed to see.

“Not actually being there doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. It must be something important.” Rose moved closer.

Rose Tyler, too clever by half. One of the many reasons the Doctor was drawn to her. But that was something else she couldn’t have, no matter how much she wished otherwise. She searched Rose’s face, wide and open and concerned. She deserved the truth, at least some of it. “Rose, I’m not who you think I am.” 

Rose drew back a fraction, nearly unnoticeable. “How do you mean?”

She cocked her head upwards. “See that cluster of stars over there?”

“Over that way?” Rose pointed up, but she was in the wrong direction.

“No, further north.” The Doctor took her arm with both hands, all too conscious of the warmth and smoothness of her skin, and gently pointed her in the right direction, towards a grouping of stars, barely visible specks of light. Her fingers lingered. “Right there. Kasterborous. Home. It had been ages.”

Rose’s eyes flicked back up to the sky, then back to her, inches away from her own. There was a spark of realization. “You went into the cave, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” she whispered. “Whatever the creature in the cave was, it made an illusion better than the best holoprograms. I was a child again, on the plains of Gallifrey.” 

“I-I don’t understand. You wanted to be a child again?” She was close enough for the Doctor to feel her breath against her skin. “Is that why you’re always eating biscuits?”

The Doctor had to grin at that. “No. The feeling of it. Safe. Secure. Protected. That the adults knew what they were doing.” She’d thought of the orange skies of Gallifrey, running through the fields, looking out at the Capitol.

A time when she was too young to realize the greatest of its towers had cracks in its foundation.

“What happened?” Rose asked.

“War,” she looked out into the nonexistent horizon. “I tried to stay out of it, I tried, but…” she broke off and leaned against Rose, head against her shoulder. She felt Rose’s arm around her back, and leaned into her. She shouldn’t be saying this, shouldn’t be doing any of this, but Rose felt so soft and warm and comfortable that she forgot her inhibitions. Rose's presence was like a balm, soothing her inner turmoil “A war unlike any other, Time Lords against Daleks. Nearly destroyed the universe. My people…changed. Putting their survival above all else. Resurrecting soldiers to die and die and die again. Children forced to work in munitions factories. _Children_.”

They sat in silence for a long time, Rose stroking her back. “What happened to them?”

“I saved them. I thought they were dead for so long, but I saved them. Long story. They’re trapped at the end of the universe. And when I found them, they nearly destroyed me.” She wasn’t up to getting into the details about the Confession Dial and the Hybrid. Despite the weariness about her, she felt lighter. It was worth sharing her past with someone. The right someone. 

“That’s awful,” Rose whispered. 

“I’m not what you think I am. Not always.” She stared down into the grass. “I’m not a hero. I’m an idiot who stole a box and ran away.” 

Rose pulled her tighter. “I think running away was the cleverest thing you’ve ever done.” 

She wished they could stay here forever, cuddled in the lush grass under the stars. She reached out and took Rose’s free hand, intertwining their fingers. “Don’t leave.” She wasn’t sure whether she was speaking of the moment, or in general.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Rose whispered.

\--  
The next morning, Rose was waiting in the console room, thinking of the night before. Eventually, the Doctor had gotten up, saying she should figure out what the engine problem was. But she’d looked back at Rose, holding her gaze for a long moment, reluctant to leave. Rose had left the garden shortly thereafter. It didn’t feel right to be there without her. 

The other thing that happened the day before, with the thing in the cave, was practically an afterthought. The cave creature might have snogged her, but she’d found something more real, something she’d been craving: intimacy. 

“Good morning. Fixed the engines.” the Doctor strode into the console room, looking bright and chipper. Any sign of distress had vanished. For a moment she thought the Doctor would act as if nothing had happened. But then the Time Lord came over to her and took her hands and gave them a squeeze. “Thank you. For being there.” Eyes lowered, her voice was barely audible.

“Of course.” She made sure to sound casual, when what she wanted to say was: _For you, Doctor? Anything_.

The Doctor let her hands drop limply to their sides. “I was wondering, though. About the cave. You were bang on about what it was. How did you figure it out?”

Rose tried to ignore the flush creeping up her neck. “I thought of the monks, and then the pirates. You know, they each wanted a thing, they wanted it so much. And there had to be a reason the cave had been closed for centuries, yeah?”

“True,” the Doctor said. "But what did you see? You never said.”

The flush had spread through her cheeks and her heartbeat thumped in her ears. She was aching to say, to stop holding back the feelings she’d been hiding for weeks spill over. Warmth flooded her as she thought of the Doctor pressed against her the day before. Fear and rejection and loss gripped her as they always had, but the Time Lord was looking back at her, open and inviting. She’d never get a better opening. This was her chance. 

“I have something to tell you.” Her mouth had never felt so dry.

The Doctor gave her a nod of encouragement, leaning in closer. “Yes?”

Rose grabbed the edge of her shirt, twisting it between her fingers. Everything between them would change, and maybe it wouldn’t be for the better. But as she opened her mouth, the TARDIS rattled and shook, throwing her off balance as the engines churned with an ear-splitting groan. Rose reached the edge of the console as the Doctor ran to the controls. Dread filled her stomach. 

“I thought you fixed the engines!” she yelled over the deafening noise. 

“I did! She’s not responding!” The Doctor yelled back. The TARDIS jolted, rocking, nearly sending its occupants sprawling to the floor. She was taking off. Rose held fast to the console, hoping she wouldn’t be knocked loose and crash into a pillar The TARDIS was going somewhere, but the Doctor wasn’t piloting her. She was pressing buttons and levers in futility, exasperated and confused. “Sometimes the TARDIS has a mind of her own!”

The next few minutes like hours. The ship continued to rock, shuddering, spinning through the Time Vortex. A tremendous jolt and the Doctor nearly went flying. “Hold on!” she yelled to Rose.

“I am holding on!” she cried. For how much longer, she didn’t know. Her fingers were going numb, and it felt like every bone in her body was vibrating. 

Finally, as suddenly as it started, and just when Rose didn’t think she could hold on longer, the TARDIS stopped, perfectly calm and still. 

Rose stood up cautiously, hands in front of her, ready to grab the console in case it moved again. “Where are we?”

The Doctor studied the monitors before turning to her, a mixture of curiosity and worry. “I don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Somewhere Safe


	21. Somewhere Safe (I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the TARDIS lands at an Earth hospital of its own volition, the Doctor is incapacitated by a headache, leaving Rose to investigate a mysterious illness affecting four humans. Are the two related? 
> 
> Also, Rose violates a shitload of patient confidentiality rules.

A thin line of smoke rose from the console, distorted through the central crystal as Rose got her bearings The TARDIS could be anywhere. Any time, any place, or no place at all. And neither of them had any idea how it happened.

“Try not to panic.” The Doctor paced back and forth, more to herself than to Rose. If she noticed the smoke, she didn’t show it. “Won’t do us any good. No panicking. We just have to see where the TARDIS has taken us.”

“You mean the TARDIS took off on her own?” Rose knew the ship was sentient, but the lack of control was still unnerving.

“Every now and then. When she has a reason. Usually. Best thing to do is go outside and find out. Straight away.” The coat rack had fallen over, and she put it upright again, slipping into her jacket. “Whatever you were going to tell me about the cave will have to wait.”

Relief and frustration flooded Rose as she followed the Doctor out of the ship. Her feelings had been threatening to burst out of her for so long, she didn’t know how to push them back. But the rejection-that felt impossible at some times, self-evident in others-would hurt more than anything she can imagine]. Rose walked through the doors, bracing herself for the unexpected.

And stepped into a hospital room.

An ordinary Earth hospital room, white and clean and smelling of antiseptic. Sunlight streamed through the plate-glass windows. A beep every few seconds. A patient, an older black woman, straight as a board, asleep in the bed. A slim metallic rectangle was at the bedside table that looked like a larger version of her phone. A glance at the dry-erase board under the telly: 19 October 2018. Nine years in the future. The world hadn’t changed much. Or had it?

“We’re here for the patient, yeah?” she asked, walking to the bedside, ahead of the Doctor. Maybe an alien disease or the patient wasn’t human. She heard a groan, low and guttural, and thought it was the patient. They must have woken her. She leaned in for a closer look, but she was sound asleep, the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest moving in time with the beep on the bedside monitor. 

The groan repeated itself, and it wasn’t coming from the patient.

It was the Doctor, slightly bent over, clutching her head in both hands. Rose hurried over. “What’s wrong? Headache again?” 

She nodded. “As soon as I came in. It’s a little bad this time.” Given that she was pausing for breath every few words, it was worse than she was saying. Much worse. 

“Why don’t you go back to the TARDIS? Until it passes, at least.” The Doctor was in no shape to investigate anything right now. “D’you need me to get you some medicine? Anything from Sick Bay?”

“Think I can manage on my own.” Despite the stubborn defiance in her tone, she leaned against Rose for support as she was escorted back into the police box. As soon as they were inside, she staggered forward, almost drunkenly, before catching herself. “The TARDIS has moved Sick Bay next to the console room for me. Think it’s right over there.” She gestured with her hand. 

“What can I do?”

“Can you investigate the hospital?” She pulled the sonic from her pocket, holding it out.

Rose didn’t take it. “Are you sure?”. She didn’t want to leave the Doctor alone. She had these headaches often, they were almost a daily occurrence now, but there was something about the way her features contorted, how unsteady and depleted she was, that made her worry.

“It should pass soon. And then I’ll catch up with you. Whatever is happening here might be related. Please.”

“Okay,” she said, at last, taking the sonic. The Doctor’s hand felt warm and dry. Not her usual cool touch. “Go to Sick Bay. Rest. When you’re better, and not a moment earlier, come find me.” 

“Yes, ma’am. Headed there now.” The Doctor shuffled off toward Sick Bay. Rose watched her go, her usual confident strides replaced by shaky, tentative steps. At one point, she reached to one of the pillars for support, then the console. _She’ll be fine. She’s always been fine._ , she told herself.

Then why was she so worried?

Stepping back in the hospital room, Rose was overwhelmed. The Doctor had sent her off to investigate on her own before, plenty of times. But she’d always been close by, ready to explain, or help, or (more often than not) defend her against someone or something hostile. Now, even with the Doctor a few meters away, she felt truly alone. Compared to the Doctor, her knowledge of medicine, aliens, or technology was minuscule. Where did she even start? 

Start with what you know. And what you have.

She took a deep breath. She knew she was in 2018. In a hospital room. In an occupied hospital room. The patient hadn’t stirred. The TARDIS must have brought them here, to this particular room, for a reason. She should start with the patient. 

She took slow, tentative steps towards the bed, ready to jump back in case the woman woke up. But it was clear even from outset she wasn’t in any shape to wake up soon. Her lips had a bluish tinge, her skin cool to the touch. The woman’s head turned slightly, and Rose gasped when a large clump of hair had fallen off, a limp braid sitting on her pillow. Whatever was happening to this woman, she was very sick. Gently picking up her thick wrist, Rose examined the patient’s plastic hospital bracelet, looking for any information about what was happening. Nothing but her name, date of birth, and a bar code.

A plan sprung forth. She needed to find out exactly what was happening, how long, and when, but first she needed some proper attire. She carefully placed the woman’s arm back at her side.

“Don’t worry, Grace O’Brien,” she assured the sleeping patient. “We’ll get you sorted out.” 

—  
An hour later, Rose had not only acquired a set of scrubs and a white coat, but used the sonic to break into the electronic medical record system. One rule of traveling with the Doctor: look the part and don’t draw attention to yourself, and you could go anywhere. She pretended to type when anyone walked by. She squinted at the screen, trying to understand the more technical terms and the lab results. She took pictures with her phone of anything she didn’t understand, hoping the Doctor could explain it later. 

Grace was admitted to Sheffield City Hospital a week ago, complaining of exhaustion and nausea, having previously been healthy. Her initial blood tests had shown anemia, but she’d rapidly gone into multiple organ failure. They’d given her multiple tests but hadn’t been able to either determine the cause of her illness. Grace had been unconscious for the past three days. The most baffling thing was that her husband and grandson had developed the same symptoms shortly after she did. They were all dying, and nobody knew why. 

Using the patient census information, Rose found the room assignments for Grace’s family, who were in the same condition. 

Graham was worse off than his wife. He looked withered in bed, struggling to breathe, even on oxygen. Careful not to dislodge the oxygen mask, she pulled his hospital gown slightly. In the record, there was a note about a small scar on his left collarbone, and he’d pointed to it repeatedly before losing consciousness. The record said he’d been delirious, raving about monsters. 

Monsters? Or was it aliens? 

The raised, rough surface of the scar was easily visible. Dull-brown, it was about the size and shape of a fingernail. Although there was nothing about an unusual scar noted for Grace, or Ryan, the grandson, she wondered if they might have something similar. Rose wondered if she should track down the Doctor. She’d know what this was. She must have recovered by now, and was up and about the hospital, looking for her, or snooping around the canteen, or finding a tentacled squid creature in the pharmacy. The Doctor could take care of herself, but she should have caught up with her by now, right?

On to Ryan’s room.

She took a sharp breath when she saw Ryan. He was only nineteen, not much younger than her. Also unconscious. She checked his collarbone and saw the same scar-the same shape, the same color. She was about to pull out her phone to take a picture when she heard a man clearing his throat. 

“Hi!” she jumped back as if she’d gotten an electric shock. Across the hospital room, the man looking back at her studied her not with alarm or disapproval, but encouragement. Brown eyes twinkled behind thin-rimmed glasses.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.” He gave her a kindly smile. He was an older man, and he struck Rose as the grandfatherly type. “Leonard Shah, Chief of Medicine. You must be Dr. Kane.”

“Yeah, that’s me.” Thinking quickly, Rose straightened her shoulders and puffed out her chest. Acted like you belonged, and you would.

As they shook hands, he looked her over. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look younger than I expected. Did you find the Fountain of Youth?”

“Just a good skincare routine.” She smiled. If Dr. Shah wanted to compliment her, let him. As long as he didn’t find out she was an impostor.

“My wife would love your skincare tips.” He cleared his throat again. “Anyway, thank you for coming so quickly. Greatly appreciate having your expertise. Lots of traffic coming from London?“

“No, wasn’t too bad.” She didn’t know what kind of expertise he was expecting, but she’d seen the Doctor bluff her way through unfamiliar situations enough times to know what to do. First step, take the focus off herself. She gestured to Ryan. “Tell me about the patient.”

“Rather unfortunate cases.” He paused to wipe off his glasses on his starched dress shirt. “As you know, sudden onset multi-system organ failure. Tox screens and cultures negative. No recent history of travel outside the UK. No exposure to radiation. Brain MRI normal in all four cases.”

“Four?” she asked. “I thought there were only three.”

“Four.” He reached for the large phone-looking thing at the bedside and pulled up the patient charts. It was like a computer, but smaller. “Mr. Sinclair here, and then there’s three more. Grace O’Brien, Graham O’Brien, and Yasmin Khan.” 

There’d been no mention of Yasmin in the records of the other three. She quickly scanned the chart. A 19-year-old female with the same symptoms. “What’s the connection between them?”

“We’re not sure,” Dr. Shah admitted. “The other three live in the same household. We initially thought there was something in their home that was making them sick, or they were being poisoned. But none of them was in recent contact with Yasmin. Not that we know of. Her mother said she and Ryan went to primary school together, but they hadn’t seen each other in years.” 

“And the mother is—”

“Distraught. But healthy. We’ve done extensive tests on Yasmin’s family, both her parents and her sister. All healthy, though the father keeps ranting about this all being caused by 5G. In forty years of practicing medicine, I’ve never seen anything like this.” Dr. Shah let out a low breath, and she saw how weary he was. He must have been working around the clock to figure this out.

“I know, it’s awful to see someone suffering and not knowing how to help them.” She put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you.” Dr. Shah lowered his voice. “Dr. Kane, we’ve found something very odd. Can I trust you?”

Rose perked up. Very odd was exactly what she was looking for. “Of course.”

Dr. Shah shut the hospital room door before continuing. “I didn’t want to say this in front of my other colleagues. They’ll think I’m crazy. It’s impossible.”

“What is?” she leaned forward, hanging on every word.

“We thought Ryan and Yasmin had the best chance of recovery, given their age. We’ve given them every treatment we can think of, steroids, antibiotics, antiparasitics, dialysis, even chelation. Nothing is working.”

Rose nodded, even though she didn’t understand half of what he’d said.

“On a whim, I sent samples from each of them for genetic sequencing. It’s incredibly unlikely, given they’re not related, but we were running out of options and time. Some of my colleagues at Cambridge are doing amazing work with gene therapy. It’s all preclinical work, but…” he broke off, lips twisting in uncertainty.

“What did you find?” 

He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I thought the med student had buggered up the sample collection. I had the resident repeat it. Then I took the samples myself. Three different samples-cheek scraping, a blood sample, and a skin biopsy. And every time, there was nothing.” 

“No cause,” she said.

“No DNA.” His voice was nearly a whisper. “The same across all samples for each of them. Their DNA is destroyed. It’s impossible, absolutely impossible, but it fits the symptoms. We’re testing the O’Briens too, but we’re expecting the same results.” 

An icy dread spread through her. Someone-or something-was destroying human DNA. Was it the Disintegrator? Dr. Shah rambled on about nucleotide degradation and epithelial turnover, but she was no longer listening. She should be, but she was way over her head. She needed to get the Doctor, wherever she was. 

When Dr. Shah finished speaking, she gave him a polite smile. “Thank you for such a thorough report. I’ll examine the rest of the patients. Could I meet you back here?” She didn’t need him tagging along. She glanced over at Ryan. “He looks like he could use some company.”

“I’ve heard he doesn’t get many visitors. His father hasn't been in once, despite our urging.” His eyes were downcast. “Thank you again, Dr. Kane.” 

Rose tried not to run as she walked the hospital halls, in search of the Doctor. Visitors and nurses alike stayed out of her path, believing she was simply off to see a patient. The Doctor was nowhere to be found. She must have gotten better by now. It had been two hours since she’d left the Doctor. Her headaches never lasted this long. But she’d never been that sick before, either.

After going through all six floors of the hospital, she rushed back to Grace’s room and into the TARDIS. The Doctor was still in Sick Bay, looking much worse. Curled up on the exam bed in a fetal position, Rose watched the shallow rise and fall of her chest showed she was barely breathing. Her skin, drained of color, was hot to the touch. She wondered if the Doctor was affected by the same DNA destroying thing as Grace and the others. The Doctor had gone silent again. Rose put an experimental hand on her hair. Nothing falling out, at least. 

Rose tried not to panic. “Doctor?” she grabbed a shoulder, urging her to wake. She only received a faint groan in response. “Doctor, are you there?” Another groan. She didn’t know what to do. She gripped the railing of the exam bed, metal cold against her skin, to ground herself.

The Doctor’s lips twitched. It took a moment for Rose to realize she was saying something. She leaned closer, brushing her hair back from behind her ear. 

“Need…to…leave” The Doctor’s wispy, hollow voice scared her.

“How? Where?” She pleaded.

“Anywhere. Something…happening…this…time…and…place.” And then she went silent again. 

Rose’s insides shuddered. There was no chance of getting the Doctor out of the hospital without attracting attention. That meant moving the TARDIS, driving the TARDIS. She had no idea how to do that. 

But if she didn’t, the Doctor could die. Rose stroked the Doctor’s hair, damp with sweat. Ignoring the tightness in her stomach, she said, “Hold on. I’ll get us out of here.” 

The console was much more intimidating than it had ever looked before. All the buttons and switches, the hourglass, instructions, and displays untranslated from their native Gallifreyan. If she pushed the wrong one, it could be disastrous. She closed her eyes and thought back, trying to remember how the Doctor set a course, but her mind was a complete blank. There had to be something here that could help her. 

A mental nudge, like a finger probing into her mind. The TARDIS. “We need to leave. The Doctor can’t drive. Can you?” Other than a flash of lights around the room, there was no response. She looked around, hoping to find another clue, another sign when her gaze fell on the lever. Blue light reflected off its surface. 

The lever. Of course. The Doctor always pulled the lever when they took off. “Do I pull the lever?” Another circle of lights. Praying, Rose grabbed the lever and pulled it down with all her strength. _Please, please, please, take us somewhere safe. To someone who can help her._

The groan of the engines roared in her ears, and she let out a breath. It was working; the TARDIS was taking off. She’d expected another bumpy ride, but the TARDIS steered as smoothly as she ever had. Nonetheless, Rose kept her grip on the console, awaiting a sudden jolt or burst of movement. When the ship landed, Rose checked on the Doctor again. Her breathing was even, stronger than it had been before though she was unconscious. She was better, even if the improvement was barely noticeable.

Back in the console room, Rose cast a suspicious glance at the doors. For the second time that day, she had no way of knowing where or when they were. She braced herself, preparing for anything. 

She wasn’t prepared to step into her own living room. 

And face to face with Mum. 

“Rose!” Mum’s expression was filled with worry, anger, and frustration. “What is this thing? How did you get in here?!”

Rose ignored her questions. She pulled out her phone to check the date. August 2nd, 2009. Almost a month since the Ice Soldiers, her last visit home, when she'd met Jack and Martha.

Martha! She could call Martha. She was a doctor, a doctor well-versed in aliens. And now, she was the Doctor’s best chance at survival. 

There was one obstacle in her way, in a pink tracksuit and crossed arms, demanding answers. With the TARDIS here, there was no explaining her absences away.

And maybe it was time to stop making excuses.

“Mum, this is the TARDIS. It belongs to the Doctor. It’s a spaceship that travels in time. And right now, we have an emergency.” Rose explained, calm and authoritative.

Mum arched an eyebrow. “What kind of nonsense is that?” 

“I will explain everything to you, I promise. But right now, I need to get the Doctor some help.” Pulling up her contacts, she dialed Martha’s number.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usual pedantic Nerd Notes (tm): 
> 
> A lot of the symptoms given to the fam were from a thought experiment on what would happen if a person's DNA suddenly disappeared. The rapidly dividing cells (hair, GI tract lining, blood) would be affected first because they're no longer able to divide and be replaced, then the body would stop receiving instructions from DNA and everything would shut down. It'd probably kill the affected person in a matter of hours, but I've made it longer for Dramatic Purposes.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last time: Rose met some familiar (to us) humans in 2018 Sheffield on the brink of death, as the Doctor grappled with her own worsening illness.  
> Rose guided the TARDIS and an ailing Doctor back to 2009, her own time, and summoned Martha for help. But is she in time? And how is she going to handle her mum?

She didn’t tell Mum everything. Not completely.

While they waited for Martha, Rose sat down with Mum at the kitchen table and told her about the Doctor, and about the adventures they’d had. She left out the parts about being shot-Mum would worry too much if she heard that. And the Disintegrator. And how she loved the Doctor, of course. The entire time she talked, she kept one eye on the blue box, as if the Doctor would step through the doors at any minute.

As she spoke, Mum sat in silence, expression changing from astonishment, to anger, to disbelief. “So all these weeks you’ve been gone, you’ve been…” she waved towards the TARDIS. 

“Yeah,” she nodded.

“With that woman who slept on our sofa? The one in the domestic?”

“There was never a domestic. She’s an alien.” 

“You said you were traveling!” Mum wore a look of betrayal, and Rose flushed with embarrassment. She’d never lied about something like this to Mum before, only over petty things like detentions and vacuuming. Despite their recent tiffs, she wanted her mother’s respect, her approval. “How could you do that?! You left us all here. Do you know I ran into your old boss at the library, asking about you?! You just up and left!” 

“I was traveling. Just in space and time.” She stared down at the yellow placemat, the ones Mum insisted on keeping despite being so faded, the pattern was barely visible. She’d let everyone down, and she didn’t know how to make it right. “It was the opportunity of a lifetime. I couldn’t pass it up.”

“You could have said something!” Mum was gripping the edge of the table. “All this time, I didn’t know where you were. If somethin’ happened to you, would this Doctor have come back and told me? Or would you have just disappeared?”

Rose didn’t know. She liked to think the Doctor would have said something, but she also wasn’t good at hard conversations. “I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. Besides, I didn’t think you’d believe me.” 

“Not sure I believe you now.” Mum crossed her arms. "How do you travel in that old wooden box?”

“It’s not little.” She stood up. This was a question she could answer. I’ll show you.” 

She took Mum into the console room, warning her not to touch anything. Mum’s mouth hung open as she turned in a slow circle.

“This is amazing,” Mum whispered. “How does all this fit in that tiny little box?”

“I don’t know. The Doctor would have to explain it. Let’s go check on her.” She urged Mum towards Sick Bay. Mum, still looking up at the ceiling, reluctantly followed.

In Sick Bay, the Time Lord’s condition was unchanged, still unconscious, curled up on the exam bed. “Doctor, can you hear me?” Rose asked. No response. Rose reached for her hand, clammy and cold. “Doctor?” She squeezed and thought she felt a limp squeeze back. Or maybe it was just her imagination.

“She’s very sick.” Rose held back tears. Letting go, she patted the Doctor’s hair. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her. She’s been having these headaches, and they kept getting worse, and now they’re much worse. Martha’s on her way, but I don’t how long it’s going to take her. I don’t know what else to do.”

Mum’s features softened as the sight of how worried and desperate her daughter was. She put a comforting hand on Rose’s shoulder. “When did you eat last?”

“I don’t know. What does that have to do with anything?” During adventures with the Doctor, she’d learned to suppress her hunger, her exhaustion, her discomfort, to the point where she was good at ignoring them. There was no time to stop for a meal when they were being chased by hostile aliens, or stuck in a desert. She took care of her needs when she could. But now, both physically and mentally, she was running out of fuel.

“Let’s get out of here, yeah?” Jackie gave her a weak smile. “I’ll put the kettle on. And let’s get you something to eat.” 

Numbly, Rose nodded, taking one last look at the Doctor as her mum escorted her out of the TARDIS. 

—

A half-hour later, the edges of Rose’s anxiety had blunted. Partly because Mum had made her a grilled cheese sandwich. And partly because Martha had arrived. She wanted, nearly begged to come with, but Martha had asked her, with a tight smile, to wait outside the TARDIS while she examined the Doctor. Martha was preparing herself for the worst, Rose tried to tell herself. 

She hadn’t even realized how hungry she was until she devoured the sandwich, just the way Mum had made them when she was growing up. A little burnt in the middle, where the griddle ran too hot, and gooey and crunchy everywhere else.

This was what the Doctor meant the other night, Rose realized, when they’d talked in the TARDIS garden. The home she longed for. The place you knew as a child that would always be there. In Rose’s case, it was ae flat with the too-small closets and the worn carpet. The spot she’d painted on the walls when she was five that was now covered with her headboard. The TARDIS felt like home to her, even after just a few months, but it would never replace this home. Her home.

But home wasn’t just a place. She thought of all the times like this, when Mum had brought her tea and comfort food. After she’d broken up with Mickey, or when she’d failed a geography test. Regardless of what else happened in her life, she could come back here, and Mum would look after her. Just like she was now. She and Mum had had their differences over the years-typical mother-daughter conflicts-but she’d never doubted once Mum wouldn’t be in her corner. She regretted not telling Mum about the Doctor sooner.

She’d told the TARDIS to take her somewhere safe. To someone who could help, and she’d done right on both counts. 

Mum sat across from her, cradling her tea mug in both hands. “Always enjoy a good cuppa, me. It’ll soothe what ails ya.” 

There wasn’t enough oolong in the world to soothe Rose. Not completely. She kept glancing over at the TARDIS, willing Martha to come out with good news. 

“That thing ain’t going park here long, is it? I’ve got the girls coming over for bridge tomorrow,” Mum said in mock complaint, but she was clearly trying to make Rose smile. 

“I don’t know.” Her voice was flat. Moving the TARDIS was the least of her worries. 

“And if she gets better. What happens then? You go back out there? In outer space?”

“You haven’t seen what the Doctor can do,” Rose said. “She’s saved whole galaxies. Nothing is impossible for her. We’re helping people, saving them. I’m finally doing something important. Something that matters.” Her life before the Doctor was faint, like an old photograph. As if she’d finally started living. She looked back at the TARDIS for the fiftieth time. 

Mum took this in, taking a long sip of tea. “Everything you’re doing, traveling in a box, facin’ aliens, it’s not the only reason you’re there, is it?”

“What do you mean?” 

“You’re there for the Doctor, too.”

Rose looked back at her mother, who was giving her a self-satisfied, yet encouraging smile. “You’ve talked about her nonstop, Rose. And the way you light up when you talk about her-it reminds me of when I first started going out with your dad.” 

“And it’s all right?” She’d never discussed her bisexuality with Mum, not sure how she’d take it. 

Mum shrugged. “You could have gotten a human girlfriend. Suppose it’s not up to me.” 

Rose stared into her tea mug. “She’s not my…we’re not…”

Realization dawned on Mum. “She shouldn’t be leading you on like that.” 

“I haven’t told her.” 

Mum reached out for her hand. “You need to. It’s not good to keep it bottled up. You’ve fought aliens, and you can’t have a conversation with the Doctor about your feelings? That’s true courage. Tell her. Even if she’s not interested, you’ll know for sure.” 

Rose squeezed her mum’s hand. “I should. I know I should.” She didn’t add: _if the Doctor ever wakes up._

Martha came out of the TARDIS, looking weary but not distraught. Rose jumped up from where she was sitting, searching her face for a sign of the Doctor’s fate. 

“She’ll be all right,” Martha assured her. “She suffered extensive neurological trauma. I put her in the Zero Room. That will reverse the damage.” At Rose’s confused look, she added, “It’s a room in the TARDIS that will induce cellular repair. The previous Doctor needed it once. Nothing to do now but wait. Could be minutes, could be days.”

Mum, who had been silently watching this conversation, broke in. “That box could be in my front room for days?” 

Rose ignored her as let out a breath. The Doctor was going to be all right. “Her DNA…”

“…is fully intact,” Martha said. Rose had briefed her on the patients in 2018 Sheffield. “Checked it three times. No sign of degradation, no anemia, nothing like those other patients you were telling me about.” 

Rose nearly sank into her chair from relief. But something else was still bothering her. “This neurological trauma, what caused it?”

“I don’t know.” Martha shrugged. “I did extensive scans, I couldn’t find a cause.”

“Could it happen again?”

“Maybe,” she said sadly. “I’ll keep looking at the Torchwood Archives, see if I can find any match for her symptoms.”

“Anything we can do?” Rose asked. She hated sitting around. 

“The Zero Room works on its own. She’ll come out when she’s ready.” She checked her phone, typing out a quick message.

“Martha, do you want to stay for supper?” Mum asked. It was only then Rose noticed it was early evening. She’d been so wrapped up in worrying about the Doctor, she’d (ironically) lost all track of time.

“Sorry, Mrs. Tyler. I need to get back to Cardiff.” Martha smiled politely as she pulled a travel mug out of her bag. “But if you could get me some coffee for the road, I’d love it. Been going since six this morning.” 

As Mum went to the coffeepot, Martha turned to Rose. In a low voice, she asked, “How’s everything else going with her?”

“’Bout the same.” Rose shrugged. They’d exchanged occasional texts, but had talked little since the safe house. “Thinking of telling her, though. You must think I’m out of my mind.”

“I do,” said Martha. “But it was good you were with her today. She wouldn’t have made it back here on her own. Keep an eye on her, yeah?” 

“Of course.” Rose hugged her. “I’ll let you know when she wakes up.”

That night, Rose alternated between her living room and sitting in the TARDIS. She asked the ship to show her the Zero Room, and the TARDIS obliged, leading her to a yellow, glowing rectangle. She wasn’t able to enter, but she felt its energy, lapping at her fingers. _Take care of her,_ she thought. 

When Rose could no longer keep her eyes open, she went to her bedroom. She could have stayed in her quarters on the TARDIS. But for once, she wanted her own room and her own bed. Mum had mostly busied herself watching telly and doing some sewing, and Rose asked her to come get her right away if anything changed with the Doctor. 

She pulled back the duvet from the perfectly made bed. Mum must have made it this afternoon, when she was busy fretting over the Doctor, knowing she would appreciate the cool, clean sheets. Rose hadn’t spent a night here since the first night she met the Doctor, and she fell asleep almost immediately. And she had the dream again.

—  
Rose finds herself in the white-walled tunnel again. She’s running, running as the floor collapses behind her, certain she’s going to escape. _will not fall. I will not fall. I will not fall._

The black spot at the end grows larger. The end is in sight. But her heel slips, and she knows the crumbling floor is right behind her. On a whim, she jumps onto the tunnel wall. Despite no handholds, she’s able to cling to the wall, defying gravity. She watches as the tunnel floor collapses in a cloud of dust. 

She’s able to inch sideways, bit by bit, by creeping across the tunnel wall. The surface is smoother than she expected. She’s almost at the end of the tunnel, but she can’t see anything beyond the exit, only darkness. She catches a whiff of smoke, and a great, billowing figure appears before her, blocking her passage. Arms the thickness of tree trunks, but his bottom half fades into nothingness. He reminds her of the genie from _Aladdin_ , but he’s not granting any wishes. 

She stares down the would-be genie. “Let me pass.” 

“No.” He has the hint of a smirk, and his deep voice echoes.

She feels her grip slipping over the coarse stone. She doesn’t have much time. “What is this place? Why am I trapped here? Why can’t I leave?”

“The answers are all in your head,” He laughs, first a chuckle, than a deep bellied laugh that reverberates throughout the tunnel. She’s sliding down the wall, and she scrambles for a grip but can’t get one, and she’s falling, falling once again…

\--

Rose woke up with a start, wondering at first why she wasn’t in her quarters on the TARDIS. Then she remembered she was home, in her bedroom. Outside, the sky was a medium blue, a hint of orange peeking out from behind the horizon. Not even sunrise yet. She flopped down back on the pillow, and was asleep again within minutes. She didn’t wake up again until mid-morning when she heard Mum’s voice. 

“Rose.” Mum gently shook her awake. “It’s the Doctor. She’s up.”

“Wha?” Half-awake, it took a moment to register. The Doctor was up. “How is she?”

Mum stood over her with a gentle smile. “Think she’s okay, but she started telling me facts about badgers on Venus.” 

Rose smiled. “That’s what passes for normal with her.”

“She’s asking for you,” Mum said. “Think I’ll give you two a moment alone, yeah? I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

Rose quickly nodded. In her hurry to get dressed, she forgot she’d had the dream about the tunnel again. She didn’t even realize it was the first time she hadn’t woke up afraid.   
—

The Doctor, as Martha predicted, was fine. Standing in the living room, she was looking over the TARDIS from the outside, leaning over to examine something on the faux wood exterior. Rose couldn’t help it-as soon as she saw the Doctor, she wrapped the Time Lord in a hug. “You’re all right?”

“Thanks to you.” The Doctor hugged her back, letting her hold linger. “A gold star for Rose Marion Tyler.” 

Self-conscious about the praise, Rose pulled back. “I didn’t do anything. Martha knew how to treat you.” 

“You piloted the TARDIS back from 2018, here. I don’t even know how you did that.” The Doctor put her hands on her shoulders. “Don’t undersell yourself. You’re capable of more than you think. And, speaking of 2018, I want to know what you found out at that hospital. But first, breakfast. Your mum got cinnamon rolls!” With that, she bounded off to the kitchen. 

Rose followed her to the abundant tray of pastries Mum had put out. They would have to talk, soon. But not now. Nothing got between the Doctor and cinnamon rolls. But she couldn’t help but wonder: how did the Doctor know her middle name? Rose couldn’t remember bringing it up.

—

“It’s a DNA bomb. Has to be.” The Doctor looked at Rose’s photos of the Sheffield patients’ scars. Back in the TARDIS console room, Rose had explained everything she’d found, including the conversation with Dr. Shah. “Nasty things. Destroys all your DNA at once. Outlawed in multiple galaxies.” 

“Why just use it on four people?” Rose asked. “And them in particular?”

“Excellent question. But no idea.” The Doctor scrunched her nose in thought. “Anything remarkable about any of them?”

“I don’t think so.” They’d all been ordinary people before getting sick. From what she remembered, Grace O’Brien had been a nurse. “Is there anything we can do for them?”

“I’m afraid not.” The Doctor lowered her eyes. “We can’t recreate their DNA. And even if we could—”

A sharp beep from the console cut her off. The Doctor studied a display, her expression going from pleasant to worried as she stared at the screen. “It’s a distress call. From Camus VI. They’re being attacked.”

“By who?”

She looked up at Rose, hollow and haunted, but with a small spark of rage. She’d rarely seen the Doctor like this. She spat out the answer, a single word that instilled fear into billions:

_“Daleks.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: Recall of the Daleks. And this is where things get interesting ;)


	23. Recall of the Daleks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is it a season of Doctor Who without Daleks? According to the BBC, no. And of course, there has to be a "[X] of the Daleks" title. 
> 
> In the face of mortal danger, the Doctor makes two surprising discoveries.

In Rose’s travels with the Doctor, Daleks had come up now and then. And whenever they did, the Doctor wore the same haunted look, one of fear and remorse. Killing machines, she’d said through clenched teeth, relentlessly evil. One Dalek was enough to take out an entire civilization. And now, on Camus VI, they were surrounded by hundreds. 

The desperate, throaty voice on the distress call had reported the Daleks were after a hyper drive engine needed to power their ships. The caller had been on an evacuation ship, headed to safety, when the call had ended abruptly. Probably shot down, the Doctor had said. Sent to a fiery death. 

On Camus VI, from behind a pile of rubble that had once been city hall, Rose watched helplessly as a Dalek killed fifteen humans in two minutes, a shower of bullets barely putting a dent in its casing. It cruised forward, crushing the bodies’ skulls without so much as an acknowledgment. It was no wonder they were the Doctor’s most terrifying enemy.

A black blur-a bomb-flew through the air, landing squarely in front of the advancing Dalek. Before it reacted, the bomb exploded, shaking the foundations of all nearby buildings. All that remained of the Dalek was a burning shell, casing torn in half. The heavy odor of smoke hung in the air, and Rose pulled her hoodie up over her mouth to prevent inhaling. That was what it took to kill just one. Rose had been in danger before, but nothing this visceral, encompassing, or brutal. 

“How do we stop them?!” Rose shouted over the blare of sirens. The Doctor was pressed against her side, but for once, she was more focused on survival than closeness. 

“We can’t let them get the hyperdrive engine!” the Doctor shouted back. “ It’s in that factory” She pointed to a steel monstrosity at the end of a long avenue. It was a few blocks ahead, but in this amount of gunfire, it might as well have been miles. “We get in, occupy the factory, stand between any Daleks that cross our path.“ 

It didn’t sound like the Doctor’s usual pacifism, but given the corpse-lined streets, Rose wasn’t going to argue. They waited for a Dalek to roll past, eyestalk rotating from side to side before the Doctor signaled to her to move. “Stay close,” she warned, before darting out from the rubble. 

They ran along the pavement, ducking every so often behind a vehicle or what was left of a building. The Doctor kept looking back, making sure Rose was still following. _She should watch where she’s going_ , she thought, looking ahead for blasted holes in the ground, or oncoming attackers. As they ran, debris fell from the ruins of a building, stinging as it hit her head and shoulders. Rose wished she’d worn something more substantial than a t-shirt and hoodie, but short of encasing herself in steel, she was still vulnerable to Dalek attacks. 

Above them, missiles were going off, a high-pitched whine signaling their presence before aiming straight towards the Dalek ship. Even their largest missiles did little more than minor hull damage. Camus VI had a strong defense system. Had being the operative word.

Inside the factory, Rose could breathe a little easier, and not only because the air wasn’t full of smoke. The Doctor immediately went to the main machine room, where she started pulling apart equipment, throwing useless items to the floor. “Keep an eye out. I’m going to mount a homemade defense system.”

Rose stood in the doorway as a sentry, bouncing on the balls of her feet. The machine room was large, spanning at least the size of two gymnasiums, but all decked in shades of grey. Grey equipment, grey walls, grey concrete floor. The only spot of color was the Doctor, rushing around, sonicing bits of machinery. The factory was quiet, and it was only when she looked back through the window she was aware of the chaos outside. She looked back at the Doctor, with a sense of awe and hope. She’s defeated the Daleks before. She can do it again. That was almost enough to calm Rose’s nerves. Almost. 

She drew back when she saw a rush of soldiers run past, headed towards the center of the building. Reinforcements to guard the hyper drive engine, though in the wake of the Daleks’ destruction, she didn’t know how helpful they’d be. She and the Doctor would guard the front line. She glanced out the window again. She glimpsed a Dalek flying overhead, then heard a rumbling and groaning from above, the creak of metal straining. 

She ran over to the Doctor, who was at the perimeter of the room, assembling something with a lot of wires on a shelving unit against the wall. “Doctor, something is going on upstairs.”

The Doctor stopped to listen. Horror spread across her face. “The Daleks are attacking from the roof. Hoping to blow the building open. We need to—” she was cut off by a loud rumble as the walls shook. The shelving unit fell, sending the Doctor sprawling on her back. 

“Doctor!” Rose immediately ran over, fearing the worst. The Doctor let out a long, low groan. The shelving unit was across the Doctor’s lower half, pinning her down. Broken bits of computers and glass were scattered everywhere. Worst possible timing. Rose knelt down next to the Time Lord, careful to avoid anything sharp. “How bad is it?”

“Don’t think anything’s broken.” The Doctor gritted her teeth. “But I might be a little stuck.”

“No. You can’t be.” If the roof didn’t cave in, the Daleks themselves would be coming after them. Rose grabbed the shelving and pulled up as hard as she could. The gun-grey metal was heavier than it looked, and it wouldn’t budge. She tried from a different angle. Her biceps burned in futility. 

“It’s not moving!” The Doctor shouted.

“Yeah, I got that!” She needed to get the Doctor out, and fast. Rose scanned the room for something that would help. An axe, a laser, something to cut, something to smash. Meanwhile the building continued to shake every few minutes. She kept an eye on the Doctor, making sure she wasn’t any worse off. At last she spotted a metal rod she could use as a lever. She crouched down, broken glass crunching under her feet, to clear out debris near the Doctor’s legs. She heard robotic voices from elsewhere in the building. 

Dalek voices.

And they were getting louder.

The Doctor cocked her head to listen. “The Daleks will here any second. Go. If they catch you, you’re dead.” 

“And leave you here? Not a chance in hell.” Rose continued to pull out debris, tugging at a monitor before it came loose. 

“I can manage the Daleks.” The Doctor tried to sound upbeat, but her clouded eyes said something different.

“No, you can’t. Not like this.”

“Rose, this is very important. Go back to the TARDIS. There’s a big red button on the console. Pressing it will trigger Emergency Programme One, it will take you home.” The Doctor looked at her, grim but determined. “You can make it if you go, now.”

Dread settled in the pit of her stomach. Trapped and possibly wounded, the Doctor had no chance against the Daleks. But she wouldn’t even consider leaving the Doctor to die. She was determined to work faster,harder. Hoping she’d cleared enough junk, she pushed the rod under the bookcase. She pushed down on the rod. Nothing. She pushed harder, with all her strength, afraid the rod was going to snap in two. And then the shelving lifted, just an inch. “Can you make it out?”

“I think so, yeah.” The Doctor wriggled her way out from under the shelving as Rose held it. When she’d barely cleared it, Rose let it drop with a loud _thoomp_. 

Rose helped the Doctor up, on unsteady feet. But it was too late. A Dalek moving down the corridor took notice of them, and turned into the engine room. “EX-TER-MIN-ATE!” Both she and the Doctor moved backwards until they were pressed against the wall, looking for an escape, anything.

They stood, side by side, death closing in on them in the form of gold casing and a black eyestalk. Time slowed down as it moved towards them. “There must be somethin’ I can do,” muttered the Doctor. She looked around the room, desperate for something, anything she could use. She bit her lip, shaking her head. 

“Nothing?” Rose asked, not daring to hope.

“You should have run.” The Doctor whispered to Rose, cross and resigned. And she should have. She should be terrified. Instead, she was overcome with clarity. Staring down certain death, there was no room for insecurity or self-doubt. 

“I’m not going anywhere. Not now. Not ever.” Rose reached for the Doctor’s hand, intertwining their fingers. Rose felt an odd calm, even though the Dalek approached at point-blank range. She didn’t regret not running, not even a bit. She’d die on her feet, the Doctor at her side, having given her everything in her last moments. The Doctor was the best thing that had ever happened to her. And she wouldn’t have missed it for anything. 

She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the Dalek to shoot.

And then nothing happened. 

She cracked one eye open. The Dalek had stopped, unresponsive, a few meters away. What was happening? 

“RE-CALL! RE-CALL!” it proclaimed. Without further acknowledging them, the Dalek swiveled around, hovering out of the room. A cacophony of robotic voices rang through the air, chanting “RE-CALL!” in unison, streaming out of the building. Rose was awash in relief and confusion. The Daleks were simply withdrawing? Why?

The Doctor limped over to the window. Dozens of Daleks were flying up in the sky, towards their ship. “They’re leaving this planet. All of them.”

Rose’s legs felt like Jell-O as she staggered forward. “That’s good, right?” But the Doctor’s grave expression said something different.

“There’s only one reason the Daleks would recall an attack. If they risked losing too many of their numbers, for no reason.” As if to prove her point, the factory walls rumbled again, but this time from the ground. As the Doctor scanned of the floor with her sonic, her face fell. 

“Bad news?” she asked.

“Planet’s surface is unstable. We need to go, now!” Grabbing Rose’s hand, they ran towards the exit. She said nothing more, and didn’t let go until they were safe aboard the TARDIS, just as the ground began to split in lengthy, jagged cracks.

—

Rose was still trying to catch her breath she stood at the TARDIS threshold. Doors open, she watched from low orbit as the cities and plains of Camus VI engulfed in lava. Cracks developing all over Camus VI’s crust, angry slash marks across the surface. In a matter of hours, the planet would be a burned-out husk. The Dalek ship had already left by the time they’d materialized in orbit. The sorrow she felt for Camus VI was attenuated only by the adrenaline still running through her. It was all gone. An entire planet destroyed. 

Shutting the doors, she approached the Doctor, bent over the console. “Did you find out why the planet ripped apart?”

“Having the TARDIS take some readings to find out.” The Doctor’s head snapped up. “But the rubble isn’t going anywhere.” She turned to face Rose, the warmth of her body radiating off of her like an electric current between them. 

“Doctor-” she began.

“Rose, never do that again.” The Doctor’s eyes flashed with anger. “If I tell you to leave me, you leave, straight away. Do you understand?” 

“I can’t do that.” She slowly shook her head. It was so foolish, how much time she’d spent so much time worrying about ruining their friendship. Any hesitation or fear that had burned out of her as if by the Dalek firepower itself. “I never told you what I saw in the cave of Alphira.”

The Doctor looked exasperated. “Don’t change the subject.”

“It was you!” Calm and clear, she looked the Doctor straight in the eye. “You are my greatest desire.”

Rose braced herself for an admonition, rejection, or just plain indifference. Instead, the Doctor’s expression softened as her lips, half parted, curved up in a slow smile. The console room lights shifted into yellow, lighting her in a warm, diffuse glow. It reminded Rose of the night they’d met, when she’d found the Doctor on the pavement after falling from the sky. But even then, she suspected, the Doctor hadn’t been the only one to fall. 

Suddenly self-conscious, the Doctor averted her gaze, looking off to the side. “I can’t lose you.” Her soft voice was laced with trepidation. It took a moment for Rose to register what she was saying, the weight of the Doctor’s past crashing now squarely on her: _If we do this, don’t be casual about it. Don’t break my hearts._

“I can’t lose you either.” Rose moved closer until she and the Doctor were inches part. “Is-is this all right?” 

“Very all right. More than all right. Suppose I should have seen it, but I can be a bit daft about these things.” The words rushed out of the Doctor in a nervous ramble. “Have a lot goin’ on in my head. And wasn’t sure how to bring it up, being socially awkward and all. Also, I should warn you, this is a different type of body than what I’m used to, and…” 

Rose held up a finger to her lips to silence her. She’d never seen the Doctor this nervous. The console room lights dimmed, changing from yellow to a cerulean blue, and the engines hummed in quiet [something]. Excitement swelled in her as she shivered in delicious anticipation. She traced the Time Lord’s lips, tracing down the softness of her cheek, the places she’d longed to touch. 

She couldn’t wait for a second longer.

“Can I kiss you?” Rose asked.

“Please,” came the whispered response.

Taking the Doctor’s head in her hands, she leaned forward. The memory of the cave flashed through her mind and made her hesitate, but only for a moment before pressing her lips against the Doctor’s. And nearly exploded inside.

She didn’t feel like the creature in the cave at all.

The Doctor was warm and soft and melting into her, like chocolate left out in sun. Not demanding, but yielding. She smelled of smoke and ash and destruction, and it reminded Rose of the mythical phoenix, newly created from its own ruins. The Doctor’s hands were in her hair, pulling her closer. The Doctor let out the softest of sighs and leaned her head back, sending a rush of desire through her, a dam bursting open. Rose had done plenty of kissing in her life, but none of her previous experiences even came close. 

The Doctor pulled her in, kissing her harder, longing and desperate. Rose flashed back to her words from America. _I’ll still be here, long after you’re gone_. Logically, she knew she couldn’t be with her forever, but she chased the thought away. She would love the Doctor, always. She dropped her hands, sliding them under the Doctor’s jacket, possessively settling on her narrow waist. She wasn’t going anywhere. The kissing became more aggressive, teeth grazing her lips, their bodies pressed together.

The Doctor was kissing slowly along her jawline, making her way down to her neck. She tilted her head up, biting her lip in a futile attempt to stifle a moan. She gripped the Time Lord tighter, running her fingernails up her back, delighting in the Time Lord’s reaction.

“You feel amazing.” She whispered in the Doctor’s ear. Overcome with surprising boldness, she let her hands trail down further, only hesitating for a moment before sliding them into the back pockets of her jeans. What her fingers found through the firm cotton was perfect: not too firm, not too soft. And Rose wanted all of it. Every part of her. “These always looked so much better on you than they did on me.” 

“I sincerely doubt that.” The Doctor nuzzled her neck. “Do you have any idea how tempting you are?”

“ _I’m_ the tempting one?” Rose gave her bum a good squeeze, delighting in the resulting gasp of pleasure. Through half-lidded eyes, the Doctor looked like she wanted to devour her. 

Another long, hot kiss, the Doctor’s hands skimming down her sides, trailing at the hem of her shirt, pausing to give Rose a chance to object, something she had no intention of doing. She gave a quick nod, drawing in her breath as she suddenly felt a bit nervous. She wondered if as her fingers reached under her shirt, tracing along the bare skin of her lower back…

And then the Doctor was backing away from her, eyes wide with fright. She bumped into the steps, nearly losing her balance before holding out her arms to steady herself. Hurt and confused, Rose could only watch as she held up her hand, staring at it, eyes wide in fright. She wanted to ask what was wrong, if she’d done something she shouldn't have. But she was struck speechless as the Doctor stared at her with the intensity that made her blood run cold. The Time Lord pointed a shaky finger at her, trying to regain her composure.

“Rose.” The Doctor spoke in short, shuddering breaths. “There’s something on your back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! By now you’ve probably figured out exactly what kind of AU this is. And if not, all will be made clear in the next chapter. We have two episodes left, 5-6 chapters. Stay tuned!
> 
> Next: I Come Quickly, I Become Cold.


	24. I Come Quickly, I Become Cold (I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After discovering...something...on Rose's back, she and the Doctor race to find out what it is. WIth a little help from some friends. And what they find changes everything they thought they knew.

“What is it? Get it off!” Rose reached behind her, feeling for the small of her back. Even though she knew from the Doctor’s frightened expression, this was no ordinary pest. 

“Do not touch it!” In an instant, the Doctor was at her side, wrenching her wrist away. “You don’t feel that? The cold?”

“No. No cold.” Rose wrenched away from the Doctor’s grip. She’d grabbed Rose so hard, she’d left red marks encircling her wrist. She rubbed her wrist with her other hand absentmindedly, but was more focused on whatever was on her back. She didn’t feel the least bit cold. A few minutes ago, she’d felt exactly the opposite. “That’s-that’s what you felt?” 

“Yeah,” she held up her fingers, studying them. “Cold. It was so, so cold. Colder than being encased in ice, and I know that firsthand. And it wasn’t just the cold. I don’t know how to describe it, but it was a schism of some sort, like I was being pulled apart in all directions.” Whipping out the sonic, she scanned Rose, and then studied the result, tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth.

“This makes no sense. These readings are all over the place.” Looking up, she said, “It’s all a bunch of noise. Like it was on Estragon, when you appeared as a ghost. At the time I thought it was because you jumped time streams, but when I merged the streams any abnormalities would have straightened themselves out.” 

“This thing’s been on me since Estragon!?” That was months earlier, when she first started traveling in the TARDIS. But that was impossible. She must have touched her own lower back countless times since then. Wouldn’t she have felt it, or seen it? The Doctor thought for a moment, pacing around. With every passing moment, Rose got more worried. She tried to think of what to do next, but her mind was impenetrable. 

“Yeah. Maybe. I need to have a look.” Despite the urgency in her tone, the Doctor hesitated, averted her gaze. “May I?” 

“Um, yeah. Of course.” She pulled up the thin polyester, exposing the lower half of her torso. Not the way she planned to undress. Not that she planned any of this. She reminded herself whatever happened, the Doctor was going to figure it out.

The Doctor slowly shook her head s she looked over Rose’s back. “There’s nothing there. No mark, no residue, nothing.” Her fingertips brushed against her lower back, just as they had moments ago, but for a different purpose.

“So maybe it’s gone, then?”

She looked up “But something that severe should have left-ohhhhh!” Her confusion turned to curiosity. “That’s your game, is it? You think you’re clever. Think you can get away with not being seen?”

“What’s going on?” Minutes ago, Rose had been fearless. Now, with something mysterious on her, possibly for a long time, her resolve cracked. Every minute of the Doctor's uncertainty worried her more.

“Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something. Something small and black, and moving. But when I look directly at you, it’s not there. It’s got some kind of cloaking. Ahhhhh!” The Doctor clutched her hands to her temples, squeezing her eyes shut. 

“Another headache?” 

The Doctor nodded, then gasped. “The headaches! I think they’re related to whatever it is on your back. They started when we met. Whatever it is, it’s got more power than to just affect you. If there was just a way to see it somehow without looking at it.” she snapped her fingers. “I’ve got it! Infrared scan.” 

Taking Rose’s hand, the Doctor led her to the console where she dropped to her knees and started pulling out wires. “Our pest is cold, right? If we do a heat map of your body, we can get an idea of what it is, the shape. That might give us a clue.” 

“Any ideas of what it is?” 

“A few. Could be all right. Could be bad. Very, very, bad.” She squeezed Rose’s hand. “We’ll get through this.” 

“Rose could only weakly nod, but the shift in the Doctor’s thinking warmed her. _We’ll get through this_. We. Not the Doctor saving her, but figuring it out together. She squeezed back. 

\--

An hour later, Rose had her hands on the console, legs spread shoulder width apart, as the Doctor had instructed her. The Doctor was holding a large, black box with wires coming from every direction.

“I’m going to run this down the length of your body,” She explained. “Besides the infrared, I’ve added sensors for additional types of energy. Not sure what I’m looking for, so I threw in everything but the kitchen sink. You’ll feel a prickling sensation. If you feel that cold, or anything else uncomfortable, tell me, and we’ll take a break. But you need to keep still. Got it?”

“Got it.” Rose straightened her back, radiating as much confidence as she could muster. In a few moments, they’d have an answer. She just hoped it wasn’t fatal. She braced herself against the console. 

The Doctor stood at her back, and she heard the steady beep of the scanner near her ear, beating out a rhythm in sync with the blinking lights overhead. She felt the prickling sensation, like pins and needles, starting at her center and spreading out to her limbs. It wasn’t painful so much as uncomfortable, like an itch she couldn’t scratch. She steeled herself against it. She’d been through worse.

“You doing okay?” The Doctor asked.

“Yeah.” She spoke through clenched teeth. 

“You don’t sound like it.”

“Just finish. I can handle it.” 

The Doctor said nothing, but the _beep-beep-beep_ of the scanner continued. Rose felt the Doctor’s hand on her shoulder, giving a gentle, if awkward caress, and she had to force herself not to lean into it. 

At last, she heard the thump on the ground and the prickling stopped. Rose nearly collapsed to the floor in relief.

“Let’s see what we’ve got.” The Doctor rushed over to the opposite side of the console to look at the monitor. And her face fell as she stared at the screen.

Rose stood frozen to the spot, not sure if she wanted to know. She forced herself to put one foot in front of the other until she was at the Doctor’s side. Frozen in shock, the Time Lord didn’t tear her eyes away from the screen. Whatever it was, it was more serious than either of them expected.

“The Trickster’s upped his game,” the Doctor muttered, mostly to herself. “Smaller than the one used on Donna. Harder to detect.” 

The screen was a mess of letters and circles, but there was a shape in the middle that looked like an insect: a round head, elliptical body, spindly legs on either side. While the background remained a constant midnight blue, a mass of colors swirled within its shape.

“Is that some kind of space bug?” Rose studied the creature in disgust. She’d never liked bugs.

“More like a time bug. A Time Beetle, to be exact.” The Doctor turned to her. “Let’s sit down. I’ll explain everything.” 

—

The Doctor sat her on the hexagonal steps, facing her, clasping Rose’s hands in her own. She was trying to smile, but the worry in her eyes told Rose everything she needed to know. 

“The Time Beetle is a space-time parasite. It attached itself to you and changed a pivotal moment in your life, creating an alternate timeline, which is what you're living now. It lives off the energy created by the new timeline. The Time Beetle exists in a state of temporal flux, existing and not existing simultaneously. It can’t be touched or seen by the naked eye-by most people, at least. Your timeline could have been altered for months, years, even, without anyone noticing. The universe compensates, and the victim lives out their lives unaware anything is different. Usually.” She cleared her throat. “It also explains why I’m having the headaches. As a Time Lord, I’m sensitive to changes in the timeline ,and being in proximity with a Time Beetle…it’s overload.”

Rose’s head spun. An alternate timeline was almost too large for her to grasp. Did that make her life, her time with the Doctor, a farce? And that her headaches were related? “Can we take it off?”

“No. Not without killing you.”

“How did this happen?”

“I don’t know. Could be anywhere, at any time. I’ve only encountered a Time Beetle once before, with Donna. It was at an off-planet market.”

Rose wracked her brains to think where she’d heard the name before, Donna. Martha had mentioned her. A friend of hers and the Doctor’s, who hadn’t recognized her. “What happened to her?”

The Doctor wouldn’t meet her gaze. “It had nothing to do with the Time Beetle. She fought it and won. Not a scratch on her.”

Seeing the Doctor was upset, Rose didn’t want to press her further. Or, in the deep recesses of her mind, she didn’t want to know. “What did you do? To stop the Time Beetle?”

The Doctor looked back at Rose, but there was a faraway look in her eyes. “Donna saved me when I first met her. Saved me from myself. Everyone thinks I save people, but you save me. All of you. In Donna’s alternate timeline, she and I never met. And I died.

“The only way to remove it is to reverse whatever change the Beetle made. Donna was able to do it with help from UNIT. I don’t know exactly know how. She was a little fuzzy on the details after she hopped back into the original timeline, like a dream. She went on a lot about labor camps and having to move to Leeds.” At this, she gave a small smile. “A small ripple, the slightest change, can make the biggest difference, and it’s impossible to know what was the tipping point. Can you think of anything? Or anything unusual that might have happened to you? Something that seemed a little off?”

She shook her head. “Nothing ever happened to me before I met you. I grew up with my Mum in our flat. I went to school. I had a bunch of boring jobs. A couple boyfriends.” The Doctor’s eyebrow arched, only for a moment, before setting into a concerned look. The only even slightly unusual thing was the dream about the tunnel. She thought of the last one the night before, which now felt like a hundred years ago. She’d never mentioned them to the Doctor, but remembered what she’d said back on Estragon. _Everything is important. Especially dreams_.

“There’s this one thing.” She told the Doctor about her dream, as much as she could remember. About the tunnel and racing to escape the crumbling behind her. About seeing the Doctor herself ripped away, and finally, the genie-like thing in the most recent one. “I asked him how I escaped the tunnel, and he said ‘it’s all in your head.’” _It’s all in your head_. The timeline, or the memory?

“The human mind creates dreams to process what its experiences, its hopes, its fears, its memories. Especially one it doesn’t acknowledge or understand. The memories of your other timeline are still inside you, buried, inaccessible, but still present. Nothing is ever forgotten, not completely. The dreams are your mind’s way of breaking through to this timeline,” the Doctor said. “You should have told me about those dreams before.”

“I didn’t think it was important. I’ve been having that dream for years.” she shrugged.

“Years? How many?”

“I don’t know. Three or four?” Rose said in alarm. “The Time Beetle could have been on me for that long?”

“It’s entirely possible, yes. Rose, we could find out what happened, use the TARDIS to change it.” The Doctor reached for her head. “I want to try reading your mind. I might be able to find it.” 

Rose hesitated. There were some particular thoughts of hers she didn’t want the Doctor to see yet. Some particularly graphic ones. But she thought of the Doctor having just recovered neurological trauma, how weak and shaky she’d been. If she didn't fix the timeline, the Doctor would keep having headaches, continue suffering, until something happened that couldn’t be repaired. “Okay.”

The Doctor put her hands on her temples and closed her eyes. She felt a mild probing sensation, not unlike what she felt with the TARDIS nudging her. The Doctor hummed. 

“Seeing anything?”

“Concentrating.”

Then Rose saw a flash of white, and the Doctor was blown backwards, into one of the pillars. 

“What happened?” She ran over to the Doctor. “Are you okay?” 

“I think so. “she looked up, dazed. “Rose, were you always surrounded by stars?”

“I’m going to take that as a no.” She helped the Doctor up, but she was unsteady on her feet and leaned forward. Rose caught her, wrapping her in a hug.

“This isn’t so bad,” she said.

“You should sit down.” The Time Lord leaned against her shoulder as Rose led her to the stairs. They sat down, and she kept an arm around the Doctor to steady her until she’d made some semblance of recovery.

“When I saw into your mind, I got a blast of temporal energy,” the Doctor said after a few minutes. Locking me out. I couldn’t see anything. I don't know why."

“What do we do, then?” 

“We find another telepath." The Doctor was rubbing the back of her head. "And I know just who to see.”

Rose pictured an alien race of brains in jars, reading her thoughts, which unnerved her. “Where do we need to go?”

London, 1893. To be precise, Paternoster Row. Let’s go.” She jumped up from the stairs but immediately collapsed on them again. “On second thought, let’s go in a few minutes.”

—

For once, the Doctor-and the TARDIS-were precise. 

13 Paternoster Row was exactly the way the Doctor remembered it from her last visit a regeneration ago when she faced off against the Half-Faced Man. Straw littered the ground, a whiff of horse from the direction of the stables.

A feeling of uneasiness curled up in her stomach as they walked towards the doors. The only time she’d encountered a Time Beetle was by proxy, with Donna. There was the possibility the Time Beetle had inflicted more damage than just on Rose and herself, but she didn’t know for sure. Getting Vastra’s input was as valuable as her telepathy skills. 

She glanced at Rose as they walked up to the door, a pop of blue in the slate-grey house. She hadn’t let go of the Doctor’s hand since they’d left the TARDIS, and her eyes darted from side to side. “Are you sure this will work?”

“Madame Vastra is the best telepath I know.” This wasn’t the answer to Rose’s question, but the best the Doctor could give. Rose slowly nodded, looking down. They’d landed in the fall, based on the state of the trees, and red-orange maple leaves were stuck in the muddy path. There was a reluctance about her, in the slow steps, the long glances. “She won’t do anything untoward. I’ll make sure of that.”

“I know. It’s just… she trailed off. “Doctor, does this change anything?”

“Not a thing.” She squeezed Rose’s hand. If Rose undid the change in their timeline, they wouldn’t meet. Another friend, more than a friend, gone. Still, the Doctor held on to a bit of hope. She only had vague memories of when Donna’s timeline changed-mostly walking in tunnels under the Thames alone. Donna had remembered pieces of her alternate timeline. She wouldn’t forget Rose; she was certain of that. The Doctor wouldn't change a thing about what happened between them. If there was anyone worth opening her hearts to, it was Rose. 

Upon approaching the door, the Doctor knocked, and the muffled response came almost immediately. “Halt! In the name of the Sontaran Empire.” Rose took a cautious step back, but the Doctor squeezed her hand again, letting her know she was in no danger. The door swung open to reveal Strax, in his usual butler attire. “Who goes there?”

“Strax, good to see you! It’s the Doctor.” She waved. “And this is Rose.”

“Doctor! I didn’t recognize you with your new hat.” Strax pointed to the top of her head.

“It’s hair.” the Doctor ran her fingers through her blonde mane. “Is Vastra home?” 

Strax gave a solemn nod. “I shall inform Madame Vastra of your presence. Come in.”

They entered the house, and Strax led them down the hall. “Is Vastra the same species as him?” Rose whispered. 

The Doctor shook her head. “It’s a multispecies household. He’s a former warrior, turned nurse, turned butler. It’s a long story.”

Rose gave a knowing nod as Strax led them into the parlor. “Make yourself comfortable. I will summon Madame Vastra immediately,” he said, giving them a slight bow before leaving.

For a moment, neither of them said anything, the tension in the air hanging between them as much as the scent from the numerous tall plants. The Doctor looked around, trying to act casual. Vastra had acquired even more nude human women statues since her last visit. 

Rose unzipped her hoodie. “Bit warm innit?” 

“Vastra’s a Silurian. A lizard, essentially.” The Doctor explained. Facts, certainties, she could provide. “Cold-blooded, so she keeps the temperature up. Not an easy feat in 1890s London. She and her wife were the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes and Watson.” 

Rose’s eyebrows went up at the mention of wife. “Wife? Here? Now?”

“Find an open-minded enough vicar, and the rest is easy.” The Doctor thought back to the _Quicksilver_ , and their pretending to be on their honeymoon. She’d been so daft-she should have seen it then. “England will come around again. Another five years from your time.”

As if on cue, Jenny came in, nearly dropping her tea tray at the sight of them. “Doctor! Si-Ma’am!” 

“Jenny! Hi!” said the Doctor, grinning from ear to ear. Of the three members of Vastra’s household, Jenny was easily her favorite (not that she'd ever admit this), with a tongue as sharp as the sword she carried at her hip. “This is Rose. How is everything?”

“Very well. I love your new look, by the way.” She leaned over to set the tray on an end table. “We just completed a case. Vastra had the Hilltop Strangler for dinner last night.” 

The Doctor smirked. “Did she leave any bones?”

Rose’s eyes went wide in fright. Jenny quickly reassured her. “It’s okay, ma’am. If you’re a friend of the Doctor’s, she won’t hurt you. Most likely.” She offered her a cup. “Tea?”

Before either of them could accept, Vastra appeared in the doorway, half-obscured by shadow. “Doctor. It’s been some time hasn’t it?” She strutted into the room, piercing eyes picking up everything. Her gaze fell to their conjoined hands. “I see you’ve switched sides, in more ways than one. And who is this?”

“This is Rose.” The Doctor, self-conscious, left it at that. “We need your help.” 

“Oh, Doctor.” Vastra gave her a sly smile. “I know this is a rarity—unfamiliar territory for you. Do you need advice on techniques? I would be more than happy to explain.” Her tongue poked out of her mouth, a flash of action. “Jenny and I can arrange a demonstration.”

“No! No.” The Doctor struggled to regain her composure as the heat rose in her cheeks. She was _not_ having that discussion with Vastra. “Just fine in that department, thank you very much.” 

“And you blush so easily, as always.” The lizard laughed.

“Let’s focus on the matter at hand,” the Doctor said. Vastra was a wonderful friend, but she could never resist trying to get a rise out of the Doctor, who could be a little uptight about…relations. Particularly in the past few regenerations. 

“Very well.” Vastra sat on the plush sofa, her dress spilling out around her. “Which is?” 

The three of them sat, and the Doctor explained about the Time Beetle, and the alternate timeline, leaving out the bit of exactly how she discovered the Time Beetle. Vastra nodded thoughtfully, sipped her tea, asked questions. At the end, there was a long moment of silence. The Doctor sat impatiently, waiting for her to speak.

“Something hidden.” Vastra spoke slowly. Her fingers curled around the sofa armrest as she leaned forward. “That which revealed can never be unknown again. Pandora’s box opened. Something I know intimately. I myself was hidden, far below the Earth’s surface, for millions of years. Some would say my unearthing was a boon.” She looked warmly at Jenny, who stood at her side by the sofa. “Others, such as those Underground passengers I killed when I first awoke, would have a far different opinion.” 

The Doctor tried not to roll her eyes. Vastra could never do anything without making a big speech about it first. In other people, that was a highly annoying habit. “Really, it’s fine, we just need to—”

Vastra held up a hand, silencing her. “This isn’t your decision,” she said sharply. Her gaze was fixed solely on Rose. “Whatever I uncover, will stay with you. Are you sure you want to proceed?”

“Yeah.” Rose’s voice was very audible. The Doctor worried this would be too much for her to handle. 

Vastra raised an eyebrow of skepticism. “You don’t sound convinced.” 

“Show me.” Rose sat up straighter, putting on a brave face. “This affects both of us. Me and the Doctor. She’s havin’ these headaches, and they’re going to keep happening as long as we’re in this timeline.”

“Selfless. But not entirely. I like it.” She patted the seat next to her. “Sit.” 

She did as instructed. Turning to face her, Vastra held her hands lightly to Rose’s temples. “I need you to sit still and clear your mind. This is an arduous task.” she shot a look at the Doctor. “I must not be disturbed.”

Rose gave a slight nod, and closed her eyes. Vastra did the same. The Doctor sat, tapping her foot, watching. Typically she was the one in the middle of the action, but there was nothing to do but wait, and the nervous energy coursing through her wasn’t helping. She took a sip of tea to find it had gone cold. Jenny had disappeared somewhere-she hadn’t even noticed. The parlor was dead quiet, too quiet. She got up, wandering about the nude statues, the plant fronds hitting her in the face now and then. Elsewhere in the house, she could hear a rhythmic thwack, accompanied by Strax shouting. Combat exercises, she supposed. Out of boredom, she pulled out the sonic, and started scanning the art prints on the wall. She was detecting some slight abnormalities in the readings. She’d seen this before, but where?

The Doctor heard a gasp and rushed back to the sofa. Rose was slack-jawed, eyes closed in a stupor, in the same position she’d been in when she’d left. Vastra was drawn back, startled. “What’s wrong?”

“She needs a moment to recover. I had to reach deep into her mind,” Vastra looked shaken. “Don’t touch her. Not yet.”

The Doctor was torn between concern for Rose and getting answers. Answers won out. “Did you find Rose’s original timeline?”

“I found enough,” Vastra said, subdued.

“Then you know how she got the Time Beetle?”

“I do.” 

Stars, Vastra could be maddening sometimes. “How?”

“She wanted it. Agreed to it.”

“What?!” The Doctor fought the urge to shake the Silurian for not being more faster with her explanation. But she stopped when she caught sight of the down-turned expression across Vastra’s features. It was a look she rarely wore: one of pity. 

“Doctor, Rose’s original timeline,” Vastra said, mournful and somber. “It’s all about you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Paternosters! I miss them so much. I need to get back into listening to the Big Finish adventures :)
> 
> Episode title, like the work title, is from the German version of "Major Tom (Coming Home)", mostly because I liked the line. Don't read too much into it.


	25. I Come Quickly, I Become Cold (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In order to find out how Rose's timeline was changed by the Time Beetle, the Doctor has sought the help of Madame Vastra and her telepathy skills. Not much action in this chapter, but numerous answers lie ahead.

(It was like a dream, feeling real but sensational. Rose felt herself moving, walking at a steady clip, but she wasn’t in control of a single action. She could feel distant emotions-exhaustion, apprehension, anticipation. But every feeling, every thought, belonged to her alternate self.)

Rose walked through the crowds of Keolis City at a clipped pace, heels clacking against the pavement. She pushed past the crowds, a morass of human and alien species that were too many to name. Small flying vehicles whizzed overhead, leaving a trail of exhaust that tickled her throat. Every now and then, she consulted a 3-D display emanating from her wristband for directions. It was a hot summer’s day, and the heat seemed to emanate from the pavement. Far too unpleasant. If the deal fell through, she wouldn’t stay on this planet a moment longer. She’d hitch a ride on the first ship off-planet. 

She caught sight of herself in a store window, waiting for the traffic light to change.

( _That’s me but it’s not me._ The face that stared back was hers, but she looked weary. Hardened. Her eyes were dark, clouded with regret and anguish.)

Rosse reached in her pocket for a tissue to clean up a bit of smudged lipstick. She’d been in a hurry to get out the door, as her contact insisted on punctuality. She didn’t wear makeup that often anymore, but today was a special occasion. The Doctor. If all went well, she’d be reunited with him before the day was out.

( _Him?_ )

Rose thought of the Doctor at the altar on their wedding day. As she walked down the aisle, his head swiveled towards her, looking at her like she was the center of the universe. And for their over four decades of marriage, she had been.

( _That’s the other Doctor, the previous Doctor. Martha’s Doctor. The one with the sideburns. I knew him? I was married to him?!_ )

Rose kept walking. The buildings kept getting smaller and smaller, the streets quieter, until her only company were street hustlers and beggars. She ignored all of them. The pistol visible at her hip belayed any aggressive ones. She was focused on her sole purpose.

( _Where am I going? And why am I carrying a gun?!_ )

She stopped at the location from the wristband coordinates: The Keolis City Motel, a low-rise concrete structure that looked like it was better off left to the Mutasi bugs. A motel like this would mostly be occupied by econowhores and addicts. Law enforcement wouldn’t come within ten klicks of this place. Perfect for what was about to take place.

( _Which is?_ )

The front desk clerk was asleep, head resting on her arms. Probably passed out after shooting up. Good. In case something went wrong, the fewer witnesses, the better. Rose walked through the lobby with quick, easy strides. She jogged up the stairs to the third floor, the top floor, and put her wristband against 316, as instructed. The door clicked open and the twin scents of mildew and cheap detergent assaulted her.

“Rose Tyler. We meet at last.” A small woman in a black bob got up from one of the beds to greet her. Pink-framed sunglasses obscured most of her face. Obscuring her identity from the ever-present Keolis City security cameras and drones. And of course, from Rose herself. Two hulking bodyguards hovered behind her, eyes locked on Rose, waiting for her to make a single wrong move. 

Pink Sunglasses gave her a name, but there wasn’t a chance in a million it wasn’t an alias. Rose got straight to the point. “Where is it?”

“All will be revealed. But first, the formalities.” Pink Sunglasses gestured to her bodyguards with a sharp nod. “Search her.”

One bodyguard was immediately on Rose, patting her down and pulling the pistol out of its holster, tossing it on the bed. Pink Sunglasses tutted, “Oh, Ms. Tyler. We need to trust each other.” Her tone was saccharine sweet.

“Not a chance.” There’d been too many charlatans, too many empty promises for her to be outright trusting. Rose stiffened as the bodyguard patted along her back, her arms, her thighs. No matter. The pistol was easy and quick, but she could defend herself if warranted. Training in four forms of unarmed combat was ample preparation. “Are we good?”

Pink Sunglasses turned from saccharine to harsh. She held out her hand, palm-up, crooking her index finger. “Payment.”

Rose pulled out a handheld tablet, fingers flying over the keys. “As we discussed, wire transfer of two million credits, to six different accounts.” She looked up. “Don’t even bother trying to extort me for more, because there isn’t any.” She’d spent the rest of the family fortune on astrophysicists, cosmologists, engineers, even shamans, anyone who had a chance of getting her back to her original universe. So she could be with the Doctor again. 

( _Another universe? Why am I in another universe?_ )

Pink Sunglasses gave her a hint of a smile. “Might as well cash in your chips. You can’t come back.”

“There’s nothing to come back for.” Rose spit out. Cold, but true. Her adopted children were long dead. They were the only survivors and of a spaceship that crashed on Earth. The Doctor had insisted on taking them in. He and Rose had loved them as their own, but they’d found no others like them. They were the last of their kind, just like the Doctor himself, sort of.

( _We had children?!_ )

As for the rest of the family, Mum and Dad had been dead for ages. Her brother’s descendants too far removed to know her. And what would they make of her, three hundred years old and never aging?

(Rose wasn’t sure which was more of a shock, her age or having a brother. _How could I have a brother? When is something going to make sense?_ )

Short of a miracle, this was Rose’s last chance. “So where is it?” she repeated. 

Pink Sunglasses reached over and pulled out a box from the bedside table, holding it in both hands. The lacquered surface shone in the fuzzy overhead light. “In here.” 

Rose was taken aback. She expected large rooms of machinery, as one of the failed physicists attempts had done. “Is it a key or something?”

“It’s all in here.” Pink Sunglasses tapped the sides of the box with her long, slender fingers. A bit of rustling, like papers sliding past each other. “I believe you’ve seen a Time Beetle before. Are you ready?”

Rose let out a breath. Vague memories stirred of a time that no longer existed. Of Donna, and the stars going out. Her husband would have never existed without Donna. “Ready.”

( _Donna._ The Doctor said Donna had her timeline altered by the Time Beetle. _Was I involved with that somehow?_ ).

Pink Sunglasses motioned for Rose to sit. Standing above her, she cradled the box in her hands. “Tell me how you met the Doctor.”

Rose took a deep breath. “I was nineteen, and working at Henrik’s department store in London. I was in the basement at the end of my shift when the mannequins came to life. I thought it was a prank at first, but it was aliens. Autons.” Despite the many years since, she could see it clear as day, pink faceless plastic moving, stiff-jointed, towards her. “They were closing in on me. Then I saw him.” The image flashed in her mind, the Doctor as he was then. A different Doctor, with cold blue eyes and a leather jacket, joy mixed with fury.” He took my hand and said ‘Run’.” 

(The basement at Henrik’s was just the way she remembered, but that hadn’t happened to her. _Why hadn’t it happened?_ )

“And then he blew up the building.” Calla nodded. “No more job.”

( _That was the Doctor?!_ )

“He came to my flat the next day. An arm nearly strangled him. I helped him stopped the Autons.” She gave a slight shrug. “And he invited me to travel with him.”

“And then, by unfortunate circumstance, you ended up here. Trapped in a parallel universe. Separated from him,” Pink Sunglasses almost looked sympathetic.

“Wasn’t all bad.” Rose tried to sound nonchalant. “Ended up with his clone. We had our boys. Mum and I got Dad back. He was dead in my universe.” It had been going well, until five years, ten years, fifteen years in, when they realized he was aging and she wasn’t.

(Rose couldn’t keep up with all the revelations. But horror dawned on her as she remembered that day, the day Henrik’s blew up. And what the Doctor, her Doctor, had said about Donna. In Donna’s alternate timeline, she and the Doctor never met. _No. No no no no no no…_ ) 

“But you had a choice.” Pink Sunglasses purred. “You didn’t even want to go to work that day. You were exhausted, despite your youthful energy. You hated being up early. You thought of calling in, sleeping late. Your alarm went off that morning. You shut it off, got up, went about your day. What if, instead, you stayed home?”

(Rose watched as the scene unfolded like a car crash in slow motion, helpless to stop the disaster ahead.)

Pink Sunglasses flipped open the box, and a black bug, the size of an orange, came skittering out. Rose tried not to flinch as the Time Beetle approached. She focused on the bug’s handler, anger flashing in her eyes. “No. Not that. Canary Wharf. _Darlig Ulv Stranden_ ,” she pleaded.

“Go to sleep,” Pink Sunglasses ignored her. “Go to sleep, for a long, long time, and nothing will ever come of you and him.” 

Helpless to move, the Time Beetle skittered across Rose’s hand. Rose squeezed her eyes shut. It had gone wrong, all wrong. She searched herself for something, something that would allow her to remember, how she’d loved him and lost him.

(And as soon as the Time Beetle touched her alternate self, Rose remembered everything. Running with the Doctor hand in hand in Henrik’s basement. The TARDIS with the coral interior. Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria and the Olympics. Donna, and the stars going out. And something else, something bigger than she could comprehend, even name, but something but made of gold and light and endlessness.)

The Beetle crawled along her arm, leaving pinpricks along her flesh before running up the side, under her sleeve. 

( _Two words._ )

The Beetle ran down her spine before settling in the small of her back. White-hot pain exploded through her, and Pink Sunglasses was tipping her head back, laughing, a cold, cruel sound.

( _Bad Wolf_.) 

And then the motel room faded to black. 

—  
Rose felt like she was hovering outside her body. Her vision was unfocused and a mild ache went through her entire being. She was vaguely aware of a green blob. A talking green blob, using terms like _parallel universe_ and _unexplained immortality_. Words she’d heard before, but could not discern their meaning.

A blink, and Vastra came into focus, addressing an astonished Doctor. The Time Lord was hanging on Vastra’s every word, hands tented in front of her, nodding now and then. And then Rose remembered she was in Victorian London. Vastra had read her mind and found the alternate timeline. A memory now that was fractured, scattered into bits. Too stunned to add to the conversation, she tried to process everything. How had she gotten to a parallel universe? How was she three hundred years old? 

With great concentration, the timeline alteration came back to her. The day she was supposed to meet the Doctor at work, she’d played hooky. The smallest of decisions had changed everything. She’d slept until eleven and met Mickey for lunch. Mum had grumbled the rest of the day, saying she was going to be fired. That night, she’d gotten a frantic phone which informed her the building was destroyed. She never went back. They wouldn’t even let her back in to get her things out of her locker-too dangerous. She’d gotten another job at the hospital canteen for a year or so until she got tired of smelling like cooking oil, then at the library. 

Rose had always believed she was meant for something more than what she was, and she thought, with the Doctor, she’d found it. Had something bled through, like the dream she kept having, telling her what she was supposed to be? She found herself trying to reach for her other lost memories, grasping for phantoms.

The Doctor alternated her gaze between Vastra and Rose, both shocked and alarm. “This is incredible,” she breathed. “So Rose and I knew each other before, in a different time, a different body,” she turned to Rose. “You never told me you worked at Henrik’s.”

“You never told me you were the one who blew it up.” Rose gave her a small smile. “They told us a boiler had exploded.”

“It was right after the Time War. I was so bitter and angry, for once I didn’t want company. I traveled alone until I met Captain Jack. Tried to get rid of him, but he kept hanging around,” The Doctor said. “And then you married my human clone, the one I gave to Joan Redfern. In another universe.” She reached for Rose’s hand. “And now, here we are again. But there’s one thing I don’t understand.”

“Just one thing?” Rose said. She barely understood any of it.

“Even with the Time Beetle, you shouldn’t have been able to cross universes,” The Doctor said.“I don’t even know how you did it to begin with.”

“There’s a bigger matter at hand,” Vastra said. A shadow crossed her features. “Doctor, you know it as well as I do.” 

“I was hoping you wouldn’t say that.” She gave a quick, tight nod, dropping Rose’s hand. “Explains the strange readings I’ve been getting with the sonic, though.” 

“You wanted to make the big pronouncement?”

“I didn’t want it to be true.”

“What’s the problem?” Rose glanced between the two of them. Vastra’s lips were pursed in thought. The Doctor gave her a plaintive smile.

“This alternate timeline that was created by the Time Beetle-it’s not stable,” Vastra said, her mouth clicking shut. 

“Existence is created by billions and billions of individual actions, both from sentient, conscious beings and from individual objects.” the Doctor’s hands flew as she explained. “Any timeline created by the Time Beetle is going to have some inherent instability from the individual manipulation.”

“Is that what happened to Donna?” 

“Yes and no. With Donna, the Daleks were destroying reality itself, a more immediate threat. Any temporal instability was a blip. Plus, I was dead, and Donna stayed on Earth. But Rose, you’ve been traveling in time. You’re not even supposed to be in this universe, and you’re traversing it from beginning to end. Every time you travel in the TARDIS, you’re punching a hole in the fabric of space-time. Think of it as a house built on quicksand, and every time you time travel, you’re taking a crowbar to it. Enough damage, and all it needs is a good push for the house to fall over.”

_No more need for the Big Bad Wolf._ Rose thought, unbidden. Bad Wolf. That had been something from the other timeline, but what was it? What did it mean?

The Doctor continued. “The effects of that damage ripple out, across galaxies. The effects aren’t always local. You pop up say here, in 1893 Earth, something destabilizes 50,000 light-years away. You keep traveling in time, the entire universe is going to unravel. It has been, ever since that first trip to Desola-” she gasped in realization.

“What?” Rose felt a tinge of panic. The Doctor was staring at her, wild-eyed, hands clasped over her mouth. What did Desolation have to do with the Time Beetle? The longer the Doctor stared at her, the more unnerved she became. “What is it?”

The Doctor moved her hands just enough to get out the words. “The Remnants. They saw what was coming all along.” In horror, Rose remembered the prophecy from the desert:

_We see further back, the things hidden from you.  
The Disintegrator has come.  
Trapped for eons, the Disintegrator will rise.   
Galaxies torn apart.  
Planets will burn.   
Billions dead.   
She will do it because of you._

The air drained out of the room. Everything that had disappeared, dissolved, was because the fabric of reality was being destroyed. 

By her. 

“You’re the Disintegrator,” the Doctor whispered. 

“No, no, it can’t be.” Rose shook her head vigorously. “Not that,” she pleaded with the Doctor. Her beloved, brilliant Doctor, who could fix anything. “I can’t be the Disintegrator.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” the Doctor wrung her hands. “If I’d known…” she said something else, but Rose didn’t hear it, only the revelation of being the Disintegrator ringing in her ears, loud and strident, blotting out every other sound and sight and thought.

She needed to get out of here. Now. 

Jumping up, she sprinted out the parlor and down the hall. “Rose! Wait!” A cry, the Doctor’s, trailed after her. She ignored it. She was vaguely aware of Strax shouting at her to stop, but she was running out the door onto the street. She ignored her surroundings, focusing on the running, only running, as far as her legs would carry her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Throughout the posting, I've been writing 4-8 chapters ahead. I'm working on the last chapter now, but it's slow going due to Real Life Stuff. I'm hoping I"ll be able to keep up my regular posting schedule. Have a great week!


	26. I Come Quickly, I Become Cold (III)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last time:
> 
> Rose saw her other timeline: unaging and trapped in a parallel universe without the Doctor. Because of the Time Beetle and Rose's traveling in the TARDIS, space-time has destabilized, causing the events that Rose and the Doctor attributed to the Disintegrator. Upon realizing in horror what happened, Rose ran out of the house.
> 
> Now: after a chat with Vastra, Rose faces the consequences of her actions. Dare I say the moment is coming?

Rose sat on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral, leaning against one of the dual sets of columns that traversed the facade. The stone of the column was cold and rough enough to feel even through her hoodie, but she was too exhausted, physically and emotionally, to move. 

She’d run and run until her legs ached and her lungs burned, and then she walked through London. Judging by how low the sun was in the sky, she’d been walking for hours. She didn’t even know where she was going. Along the Thames, through the streets, avoiding carriages, and trying to ignore the stink of horse dung. She was probably destroying the universe just by walking, but she didn’t know what else to do. She brushed a few stray tears from her eyes, swollen from crying. She’d run out of stamina, of tears, and of hope. 

A crisp chill enveloped her, and she hugged herself for warmth. The early evening was settling in, sun was about to touch the horizon. She was stuck, in a time and a place she didn’t belong, regardless of where she went. What did she do now? This was not her life. Not her proper life, only an errant branch gone wrong. She didn’t even know who she was. Only a few traces of memory to give her a clue. And the Doctor…the Doctor must hate her now, hate her for what she’d done. And if she didn’t, Rose hated herself enough for both of them.   
The Doctor had tried to take her home, after getting stuck on Desolation. Why hadn’t she listened? Why had she invited herself along? Some part of her must have loved the Doctor then, just as much as she did now. Love had caused her nothing but trouble. 

She heard footsteps approaching. At first, she thought it was the Doctor, but the plod of the boots was heavier than the Time Lord’s. Opening her eyes, she was looking up at a woman in a black veil, crinoline hem peeking out under a grey wool coat. She was about to tell the woman to leave her alone, when she caught green scales behind the veil. Vastra, come to collect her. Rose’s stomach sank.

Vastra hitched up her skirts before sitting down next to her. “In need of prayer?” 

“Just something familiar.” St. Paul’s was one of a handful of places she recognized. Some buildings looked vaguely familiar, still standing in the 21st century, but with new businesses occupying them. Their purpose being rewritten, just like her own timeline. 

Vastra tapped the comm dot, nearly hidden on her neck. “Doctor, I’ve found her. We’ll be back in a few minutes.” To Rose, she said. “Jenny, Strax and I, we’ve all been out looking for you.”

The Doctor hadn’t been looking for her. Just as she thought. Her shoulders slumped. “And do what? Do I stay here? Will that stop the destruction of the universe?”

Vastra shook her head. “The instability of the universe is already set in motion. Space-time is delicate, full of whirls and eddies. Catastrophic events happen all the time, but the fabric of the universe won’t be able to absorb the blows. Objects will keep disappearing. Planets will be destroyed. And it will keep getting worse, and worse.”

“I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t even know.” Rose looked away. A few people were milling about, staring at them. She wondered if it was Vastra, but realized she was the only woman on the street not in a dress.

“But you did,” Vastra said, firm but with a touch of sympathy. “But you have a chance to put everything right.” 

Rose stared at her in silence. How could anything be put right after this?

“The Doctor told me about Donna. She undid the alternate timeline by reversing the Time Beetle’s actions. You can do the same. Go back in the TARDIS, change your timeline. Meet the Doctor in a shop basement. The timeline reverts. The universe stays intact.” 

Vastra made it sound so simple, which made it all the more heartbreaking. “But if I do that, I’m trapped in the parallel universe.” 

“The right thing is rarely the easy one,” Vastra said. “But if you change the timeline, everything you attributed to the Disintegrator will never have happened. You’ll save the life of everyone affected. Every single life. Even the Doctor rarely gets to do that.” 

Rose thought of the people of Camus VI, all dead. The pirates' bodies in the cave of Alphira. The war between the Axenic and the Tloc, over the missing moon. “So you’re here to convince me to change the timeline?”

“No. You were going to do that on your own, once we found you. I came to talk to you about what this will do to the Doctor.”

“What about what it’s going to do to me?” 

“The Doctor has walked this universe for millennia, taking along friends to know, to trust, to share. She’s lost every one of them. She carries that with her. She goes on. And sometimes, the grief is staggering.” She paused, adjusting her veil.” I’ve been in your head. You wanted to know the Doctor, to understand her. And now you do, better than anyone.”

Rose remembered few of her alternate memories, but she retained the sense of loneliness, the desperation. She pictured the long years stretched endlessly ahead of her, alone. She thought of the Doctor’s initial reluctance to talk about herself, and how much she’d held back. “You must think I’m an idiot. The alternate timeline version of me, anyway. She buggered things up.”

“I think she’s bold and persistent. I like her, even if she married a man.” Vastra smiled in amusement. “Do you want to know why the Doctor isn’t looking for you? She’s holed up in the TARDIS, finding an alternative to sending you back to the parallel universe. She was calling me every five minutes on the comm dot, asking my opinion on different scenarios.” 

“But she hasn’t found anything.”

Vastra shook her head. “I don’t have to read your mind to know you love her. Go to her. Be with her. As long as you can.”

—

The walk back to the TARDIS was shorter than Rose expected, only a few blocks. Vastra walked alongside her, a silent but comfortable presence. She approached, entertaining a thought: the Doctor had found a solution, something to keep her in this universe without destroying it. But when she saw the Time Lord sitting on the steps, downcast, she knew it was a false hope. 

“Hey,” Rose said.

“Hey,” the Doctor replied flatly. 

She didn’t know what to say next, how to begin. _I love you, please don’t leave me_. But the words sat on the tip of her tongue as she watched the Time Lord forlorn, staring past her.

“Vastra said she found you at St. Paul’s,” the Doctor said at last.

“Yeah.” She brushed her fingers against a pillar, the crystal cool and smooth under her fingers. The TARDIS had easily felt like home, despite its alienness. Now, she understood why; it had been her home before. Now it was being ripped from her once again.

“I fought the Cybermen there.” The Doctor was suddenly perky. “Twice. Once, the inside underwent dimensional engineering to hold thousands of Cybermen, an army created from the dead. Did I tell you about that?”

“Shut up.” She wouldn't let the Doctor steer away from the subject at hand. There was no more time for avoidance, for the unsaid. She sat down on the steps next to the Doctor, a close but respectful distance away. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“I don’t want you to go.” Turning towards her, the Doctor leaned forward, resting her forehead against Rose’s. She took in the warmth of her, the pain, the sadness that reverberated through every inch of her. 

“Maybe there’s a way you could cross universes, yeah? After I go back?” Rose said.

“Maybe,” she replied flatly, something that didn’t give Rose much confidence. If the Doctor hadn’t come looking for her in three hundred years, she wasn’t going to come at all.

“Will you be all right? After?”

“I’m always all right. Who knows where I’ll end up in the other timeline.” She smiled at Rose, but it wasn’t convincing. “Crazy, isn’t it? The first time, we met by accident. And somehow, of all the places and times in existence, millions and billions of people, we found each other again. Almost like it was meant to happen.” 

The words were bittersweet in her ears. If it was meant to happen, why couldn’t they stay together? “Almost sounds like the stuff of fairy tales. You know, without the happily ever after.”

“You haven’t read a lot of the original fairy tales,” the Doctor said. “Besides, the best fairy tales are the ones that are true.”

Rose gave her an odd look. Even with the impossibilities, she’d seen aboard the TARDIS, that was a stretch. “Which ones are true?”

“All of them.” The Doctor took Rose’s hand and brought it to her lips. “This timeline may not exist much longer, Rose, but everything that’s happened in it, that’s happening now is real.” 

Not literally true, Rose understood, but the meaning, the emotion, the hopes and struggles and dreams of the characters in them were universal and true. That was enough to make her start crying again, and she leaned against the Doctor’s shoulder, leaving a damp spot on her jacket. The Doctor embraced her, arms stroking her upper back, carefully stopping midway down. They heard a distant groan, not of the TARDIS engines, but of metal straining under a heavy load, coming from deep inside the ship. The Doctor cocked her head. “I think she’s sorry to see you go too.”

Pulling away from her, with a heavy sigh, the Doctor brought out her phone. “I found the date we need to go back to. 4th of March, 2005. The explosion at Henrik’s was reported in the _Times_. Found it in the archives.”

Four years ago. Three hundred years ago. Too many years. “And then what?”

“You go back to that morning, convince yourself to go to work.” She leaned backwards, resting her elbows on the steps behind them. “And you save the universe.”

“It’s not like I’d take orders from anyone else.” Rose tried to grin, but the Doctor was looking away, staring at the central column, as if it were giving her a message. Rose took in the column, the console, the pillars, all of it, trying to commit it to whatever memory she had left. 

“We should be going,” the Doctor said. 

“S’pose we should,” Rose reluctantly agreed.

Neither of them moved. Instead, they sat in silence, looking at the central column, the only sound the gentle hum of the engines, ready for takeoff. Rose knew she should be getting up (giving up?), telling the Doctor to set coordinates for 2005, but she couldn’t make herself move.

If only there was more time.

But they were in a time machine. 

Did that mean they could delay the inevitable? A few hours? A few years? “What if we went back early?” Rose asked

“We can’t delay too long. The universe is destabilizing as it is,” The Doctor replied. But there was a flicker of interest in her eyes.

“What if the TARDIS went back to a slightly earlier timepoint? Like the night before?” It was kicking a can down the road. It wasn’t enough time, it would never be enough time. But it was better than leaving right now.

The Doctor . this for a long moment, then gave a cautious nod. “One more night. One more night aboard the TARDIS.” 

An odd calm washed over Rose. But they couldn’t go bounding around the universe like they normally did. “What do we do?” 

“I have an idea.” With renewed pep, the Doctor sprung up from the steps and went to the console. “Something I’d like to show you.”

Slowly rising from the steps, Rose followed her. “What is it?”

“You’ll see,” The Doctor said, but there was no mischief in her tone, only a hard-won composure. Within a few minutes, the TARDIS had arrived. “Let’s have a look, shall we?” 

The Doctor held out her hand. Taking it, Rose let herself be led towards the door. The Doctor opened the doors to a dizzying array of stars, speckling the sky. They were in space, but where? Below her, a planet’s surface, spanning her field of vision, white swirls over blue. She caught the outline of a landmass, recognizing the familiar contours. North America. Earth.

“We’re about three hundred miles from the surface,” The Doctor embraced her from behind. A protective gesture, even though the TARDIS shielding would prevent her from falling. “Had to be careful not to hit the Space Station. It’s the 3rd of March. The night before. 7:30pm, Greenwich Mean Time. All we need is a short hop to your estate in the morning.” She said it causally, like she was dropping off Rose to pick up dinner, but thenearly indetectable strain in her voice gave her away.

“Twelve hours, then.” She’d always set her alarm for 7:30am, the bare minimum amount of time to get out of bed, get ready, and be at work by nine. Twelve hours before her past self’s alarm would go off, and she’d have to undo the choice she made. Below them, her younger self was probably watching telly, or reading a book, blissfully unaware of what lay ahead. 

“Parallel universes, they don’t change much. Not at the cosmic level," The Doctor explained. "The stars out here, most of them should exist where you’re going. When you go back, look at the sky. We may be in different universes, but we’ll be looking at the same stars.”

“If I remember.” Given what the Doctor said about Donna earlier, she wouldn't remember much, or anything. She looked back at the Doctor, studying her quiet intensity. She wanted to remember everything about her, how it felt to be in her presence, the feel of her, the taste of her. The urge to feel it all aga n,and more. 

“I hope this isn’t all you have planned.” Rose turned around, traced the sharp line of her jaw, the gentle curve of her neck, feeling the dual pulse quickening. 

“I’m open to suggestions.” Her lips curved into a half smile. Her voice was husky but warm, barely audible over the hum of the engines. “Are you sure about this? Don’t want you to feel like, you have to.”

After the weeks and wishing and waiting, her desire had crested. She locked eyes with the Doctor, the spark of lust in her eyes told her the feling was mutual. “Very.”

The next thing she knew, the Doctor was kissing her, hand firm on the back of her head. She was swept up in longing and desperation and hope. She grabbed the Doctor’s hips to steady herself, an anchor in a storm. Pressed close to her, everything faded into the background, except the Doctor’s mouth on her own, on her skin, down her neck, her breath warm and damp against her skin. Where the Time Lord had been tentative before, almost shy, she was fully unleashed at this moment, one she wished would never end. The Doctor moved a leg between her thighs, shoving her against the TARDIS doors (when had she shut them?), causing her to gasp. Stroking her back, stopping short midway down, even lost in a frenzy of desire she was careful not to avoid the Time Beetle. A harrowing reminder for both of them of what was to come. As if to blot it out, Rose grabbed the front of her shirt, kissing her hard.

The next moments were a tangle of hands and mouths and heat. Rose didn’t even know how they got to her quarters, only vaguely aware she’d stumbled backwards onto her bed. She only knew, only cared, the Doctor was on top of her, eager to satisfy the want pulsing through her. 

The Doctor kissed her way down the front of her shirt, looking up at her with pleading, wide eyes. “Rose, can I lick things?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

She pulled up the bottom of her shirt, eyes darting away from the hairline pink scar on her abdomen before meeting hers with a naughty grin. “Taste things?”

“Please.” 

The Doctor traced the front of her jeans, and her feather-light touch was enough to make her nearly jump out of her skin. “Eat things?”

“Oh god, yes.” 

“Can I leave my boots on?”

“What?! No!” Rose’s eyes snapped open. The Doctor was propped up on her elbows, give her a playful smirk. “You’re not really planning to wear them, are you?”

“But they’re comfy!” The Doctor said in mock protest. “Thought it was worth a try.” 

“Take those off this instant.” She tried to sound commanding, but it came out playful, joyful, the way they’d always been with each other, only now with a layer of something deeper between them. 

The Doctor kissed her again before sitting up. She didn’t take her eyes off Rose and she reached to untie the laces. “For you? Anything.” 

As the Doctor kicked off her boots. Rose had a flash of memory, the Doctor attempting to undress in front of her when they’d first met, a glimpse of leg. Rose leaned back, resting her head on her elbows. “I’m gonna hold you to that.”

She did.

—

_We’ve done this before. In the other timeline_ , Rose thought, afterwards, remnants of pleasure still coursing through her. _Because this feels exactly like where I’m supposed to be._

She was in bed, curled up next to the Doctor in comfortable silence. Rose was fighting to stay awake, exhausted but not willing to sleep, not wanting to miss a moment of the short time they had left together. She had no idea how much time had passed and didn’t want to know. 

She must have done this with the other Doctor, the skinny man with the sideburns, who was both hers and a stranger. Hundreds of times. Thousands, even. She didn’t know how long she’d been with the Doctor in the other timeline, only that she’d been married to the clone for decades. She remembered her counterpart’s reaction to the memory of him, the way her heart swelled with love and loss. 

“It must have been the TARDIS,” the Doctor broke her silence, staring up at the ceiling.

“Hmm?” 

“That you’re here, I mean. When I regenerated, the TARDIS exploded, fracturing the space between dimensions. Tiny fractures. Remember the Tetrakind? They live between dimensions, and those fractures allowed them to come into this universe. The same fractures allowed you to cross universes.” She propped her head up on her elbow, gazing down Rose’s body.

“And she dumped you right on my doorstep.”

“She knows how to pick them.” The Doctor stroked her hair, almost absent-minded. “You’ve always had a connection to her, haven’t you?”

“I feel this, nudge in my head? Like when I need to find you.” Rose admitted. “You said she was telepathic. I assumed that’s what she did.”

The Doctor shook her head. “Not usually. Sometimes, my friends who come along with me, they get lost on the ship for hours. And when you got us out of 2018, you guided her beautifully. Not a single fire.”

“I just thought about where I wanted to go.” She shrugged it off. In retrospect, it had been easier than she expected, despite how nerve-wracking it was. 

The Doctor considered this. “The TARDIS can see the past, future as indistinguishable from each other. She must have seen the timelines too.” She shouted at the ceiling. “You could’ve clued me in!” 

“Let’s not talk about the TARDIS.” Rose traced a finger down the Doctor’s side, watching her inhale sharply. “Tell me about him. The Doctor I’m going to end up with, y’know, after.” Neither of them wanted to acknowledge what was coming.

“Hmmm.” The Doctor scrunched her nose in thought. “First off, he has really good hair. I spent a lot of time on it. He’s quite charming when he wants to be. But beneath the surface, he’s incredibly angry. It was just after the Time War, he thought he’d lost everything. You’ll be good for him, I think.”

“Are you sure we can’t take one more trip? To meet him?” Rose asked. “I’ll make it worth your while. Both of you.”

“Rose Tyler, you know very well what happens if I cross my own timeline!” her voice dropped. “Besides, I don’t want to share you. “the Doctor murmured, kissing her way up Rose’s arm to her shoulder. She suddenly stopped. Her mouth went slack as her eyes widened in realization.

“What is it?”

“Crossing the timeline,” she muttered to herself. “But that won’t work…unless…I…yes, that’s it! Come on, we don’t have a second to lose!” Springing up from the bed, the Doctor grabbed her knickers and shirt, throwing them on before running out of Rose’s quarters. Confused, Rose threw on her dressing gown before following her. 

She found the Doctor on the floor in front of the console, having taken off a panel and now pulling out wires. “I need to do some extensive reprogramming.”

Rose stared at the TARDIS parts scattered across the floor. The Doctor was possessed, tearing into the console like a madwoman. “Doctor, what’s going on? What are you doing?”

“Something brilliant.” She looked up at Rose, eyes gleaming. “I figured it out.” 

“Figured out what?”

“The only thing that matters right now.” She jumped to her feet, putting her hands on Rose’s shoulders. “How to keep you in this universe without tearing it apart.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters left! I've been doing a weekly update for the past few months, but I'm hoping to post both chapters next week.


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